Devendra Fadnavis orders probe into Dhule farmer's death

The political fallout of 84-year-old farmer Dharma Patil's suicide over non payment of due compensation dominated Maharashtra politics on Tuesday. State cabinet witnessed a verbal duel between ruling allies BJP and Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena ministers Diwakar Raote, Subhash Desai and Ramdas Kadam targeted chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over his abject neglect of the issue.

Shiv Sena, which last week decided to go solo in the coming Lok Sabha and assembly elections, upped the ante against the BJP in a scathing editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna. The editorial called the BJP leaders ''speeh mafia'', who are least bothered about farmers' welfare. The editorial quipped that the funeral pyres of Dharma Patil will engulf the chairs of the sitting ministers if it does not pay heed to farmers' plight in the state.

BJP, in its reply, stated that the Shiv Sena needs to introspect, given that the said fires will also engulf the chairs of 12 Shiv Sena ministers. The state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar retorted that the entire Cabinet was serious on this death, and will provide every possible help to the aggrieved.

Meanwhile, responding to the onslaught of criticism over inaction, Fadnavis ordered a chief secretary level inquiry into the incident. He issued instructions that the report should be ready in a week's time and if any officer was found erring should be strictly reprimanded.

Buoyed by the evident fissures between the ruling partners, the Opposition also went into an attack mode and demanded resignations of energy minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule and tourism minister Jaikumar Rawal, who hails from the deceased farmer Dharma Patil's Dhule district.

The political fall out over the incident has exposed widening rift between NDA allies — BJP and Shiv Sena. It has also provided ample fodder to the Opposition to take on BJP on the agrarian crisis in Maharashtra.