No move to Delhi: Fadnavis makes it clear he is here to stay till 2019
Quashing all speculation of his shifting to Delhi, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday that he is here to stay, at least till 2019, the year when Assembly polls in the state are due. Fadnavis was addressing the BJP’s state executive committee members at Borivali.
The chief minister also rubbished rumours that state BJP president Raosaheb Danve would step down from the post. Fadnavis made it clear that the BJP will face the 2019 Assembly polls under existing party set-up.
Accusing the media of carrying out a negative campaign against the party and his government, the chief minister asked BJP officebearers, leaders and cadres to take the pro-farmers, pro-welfare measures decisions taken by his government to the people. Stressing the need to have a grip on all the 90,000 polling booths across Maharashtra, Fadnavis said the BJP would devise its own programmes to reach out to the people of the state.
Referring to efforts of a section of farmers to re-start the agitation, the chief minister slammed those in the steering committee of farmer organisations of not allowing the guardian ministers of districts to unfurl the national tri-colour on Independence Day. Referring to the demand of a complete farm loan waiver by the section of the steering committee leadership, Fadnavis wanted to know which state in the country can bear the burden of Rs 1,50,000 crore. He said that this would stall all developmental works and welfare schemes.
Earlier, addressing party office-bearers, state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve alleged that the Opposition Congress and NCP was trying to confuse the people and the farmers over the loan waiver package announced by the state government.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, Minister for Finance and Planning Sudhir Mungantiwar said that after the 2008-09 loan waiver package, the then Union minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar had remarked that farmers will never ever be in debt again. Taking a dig at the NCP chief, he said that Pawar recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a plea to direct the BJP-led state government to announce the loan waiver scheme.