Don't pay electricity, other dues till government gives loan waiver money: Sharad Pawar to farmers
Sharad Pawar
The Maharashtra government had announced an agriculture loan waiver of Rs 34,022 crore on June 24
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Tuesday attacked Maharashtra's ruling government over the agrarian crisis in the state, urging farmers not to pay electricity and other dues until the government deposits loan waiver money into their bank accounts.
After a state-wide agitation by farmers, the Maharashtra government had announced an agriculture loan waiver of Rs 34,022 crore on June 24.
Meanwhile, on July 9, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that around 36 lakh farmers in the state will have their entire debts waived.
Pawar, who was speaking at a rally organised together by the Congress and NCP on his 77th birthday, warned chief ministerFadnavis to restrict himself from blackmailing the opposition leaders.
"The Maharashtra chief minister uses the language of blackmailing the opposition. We respect the mandate of the people who chose you to govern," asserted Pawar.
The former Union agricultural minister further cautioned the CM saying the people who gave him the mandate can also oust him from power if he continued to use the blackmailing language.
Pawar also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'deliberately' misconstruing a meeting at the residence of suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on December 6 and presenting it as a conspiracy by Pakistan to interfere in the Gujarat polls.