Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Things are sorted out between BJP and Sena, says Fadnavis

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handing out the mayor’s post to the party after Mumbai civic polls, more support was expected from the ally.

And a decision to not back the BJP in presidenti­al polls just for the sake of opposition would be seen as the last straw for the alliance.

What has settled the diatribe for now is that both alliance partners are not keen on midterm or early polls. As such, in the meeting, it was decided not to stretch things to a point of no return.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of the ongoing farmers’ protests and the BJP’s perceived bias against the co-operative sector, Fadnavis said that his party would continue to root out corruption in the sector, but was supportive of the co-operative movement and network as a whole.

“In the last two years, we have only tried to clean up the co-operative sector. We believe the sector is there to stay and is very important to Maharashtr­a. However, we will focus on stringent laws to keep a check on the scams in the co-operative sector. Our laws have withstood legal scrutiny,’’ said Fadnavis.

The BJP-led government’s approach towards the co-operative sector, whether it is sugar mills or banks, is being questioned by its political opponents. The Congress and the NCP dominate the co-operative network of sugar mills and banks in Maharashtr­a.

“This is a significan­t decision.Unfortunat­ely, due to corruption, our co-operative banks started losing their relevance. There are scams in 16 co-operative banks, all under the tenure of the former government. The problem is that penetratio­n of co-operative banks is high in Maharashtr­a and it will take nationalis­ed banks at least three to four years to set up their network. So, if co-op banks are not there, in certain areas we will have no institutio­nal banking facilities,’’ said Fadnavis.

 ??  ?? Devendra Fadnavis
Devendra Fadnavis

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