Call back ministers on foreign tour, says Chavan
Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, to call back two ministers on foreign tour, saying they are directly responsible to tackle the tur (arhar) dal issue.
The Shiv Sena minister, Ramdas Kadam, too, criticised the foreign tour of all party legislators and the leader of the opposition.
In his letter to PM Modi, Chavan has said that farmers from Marathwada and Vidarbha region are agitating for the procurement of tur at Minimum Support Price (MSP).
“There is a rise in the number of suicides of farmers. Instead of personally attending to this crisis, the minister for agriculture (Pandurang Fundkar), along with minister for food and civil supply (Girish Bapat), has gone on a 15-day junket tour with their families,” Chavan said.
He further said that, according to the rules of business, specific sanction from the chief minister and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is mandatory for any minister to travel abroad. Chavan added that he is sure about ministers would have taken prior sanction before leaving.
Chavan has asked the PM to instruct Fadnavis to recall the two ministers to their resume duty. The delegation led by the chairman of the Upper House (Ramraje Nimbalkar) and Speaker of Lower House (Haribhau Bagade) could continue their official tour.
Sena minister Kadam said, “It’s an irresponsible act on the part of the BJP ministers to go on a tour when the farmers are committing suicide.” He demanded the CM should not allow any minister to go abroad until and unless suicide of farmers does not stop.
Criticising the Sangharsh Yatra of opposition, Kadam, minister for environment, said, “Opposition legislators who demanded waiver of loan of farmers have joined the foreign tour. They don’t have the right to protest on farmers’ issues. Opposition are responsible for what the farmers are facing today.”
BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the programme of the tour was finalised during the Congress–NCP regime. “The names of members are recommended by party leaders and its necessary to increase the stature of debate in Legislature House,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Parliamentary Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Maharashtra State Legislature and Parliament of South Wales, Australia) on Friday in Australia. Bagade and Nimbalkar signed on behalf of Maharashtra legislature and Chairman John Ajaka and Speaker Sheila Hancock signed on behalf of South Wales.