Seeking to expand in Vidarbha at the cost of the BJP, the Shiv Sena has attacked its senior ally for agrarian distress and farmer suicides. Criticising chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Sena charged that while Maharashtra was being marketed in the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, its farmers were committing suicide by drinking poison in Vidarbha.
Seeking to expand in Vidarbha at the cost of the BJP, the Shiv Sena has attacked its senior ally for agrarian distress and farmer suicides. Criticising chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Sena charged that while Maharashtra was being marketed in the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, its farmers were committing suicide by drinking poison in Vidarbha.
Sena mobilising activists in Vidarbha
Asking why farmer suicides were taking place when the chief minister and finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar were from Vidarbha, it also took a swipe at the latter, asking when he would announce plans for a ban on (farmer) suicides on lines of a recent announcement to prohibit liquor in the region.
Sena ministers and MPs have also kicked off the party's state-wide 'Shiv Samparka yatra' from Vidarbha, reaching out to activists in all assembly segments after the assembly elections' bloodbath. The Sena, which has a strong base in Mumbai, Thane and Marathwada, had to however face a complete rout in Vidarbha, getting just 2 of 62 seats. Minister of state Sanjay Rathod (Digras) and Suresh Danorkar (Varora) were the only two Sena candidates candidates who won.
Tough to take over BJP's terrain
This defeat was because of factors like the BJP, which has a better presence in Vidarbha, momentarily snapping its ties with the Sena just before the polls. The BJP could however get 44 seats in Vidarbha with the Sena's young turks like Capt Abhijit Adsul (Daryapur) and Adv Ashish Jaiswal (Ramtek) and old warhorse Gulabrao Gavande (Akola West) tasting defeat at the hands of candidates from the party. The Sena and BJP had however swept all Lok Sabha seats from Vidarbha.
The Sena opposes BJP's stated position on the formation of a separate state of Vidarbha. Party president Uddhav Thackeray has announced that the funds generated from the sale of his photographs will be utilised for distressed farmers.
Regime change, yet no impact: Saamna
"Our ministers and MPs are touring Vidarbha to meet workers from all vidhan sabha segments," said Jaiswal. "Even if the regime has changed there seems to be no difference in the lives of the farmers of Vidarbha," said an editorial in Sena's mouthpiece Saamna.
The editorial listed the debt burden, lack of remunerative pricing, failed crops and drought as the reasons for the suicides. It questioned the BJP on its responsibility to fulfil the promises given to tillers and dismissed contentions that the formation of a separate state of Vidarbha would lead to progress of farmers.
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