Shiv Sena's aggression fuels BJP U-turn

Mumbai: In an overnight U-turn of its position in the issue of loan waiver to farmers, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Thursday tried hard to posture itself in Maharashtra Assembly as the only saviour of farmers. This shift came as a surprise for many but sources close to the development confirmed to The Asian Age that it was a reaction to the Shiv Sena’s aggression in the House on the issue.

On Wednesday, when Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) members raised the issue of loan waiver to farmers, agricultural minister Pandurang Fundkar tried to clarify the government’s stand. He said, “Our government is in favour of loan waiver. But we need to decide the mechanism of it. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has already said that government would take the decision on right time.” However, Mr Fundkar and even parliamentary affairs minister Vinod Tawde did not mention when exactly the government would announce the decision.

However, BJP had to shift its position within 24 hours. The Asian Age has learned from highly placed sources that Sena’s Wednesday late night meeting after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayoral election pushed BJP to rethink its strategy.

In Sena’s meeting on Wednesday, party chief Uddhav Thackeray had asked his ministers and core group leaders to go all out against the state government on the farmers loan waiver issue. This was a clear indication for Sena MLAs to corner BJP in the House. When the BJP leadership got wind of Sena’s strategy, it decided to go all out for the loan waiver issue. Ministers of the party leadership’s core group instructed party MLAs to raise the demand in the House as well as outside the House. Following the instructions BJP MLAs Raj Purohit, Yogesh Sagar and Ashish Shelar led the party in the House, raising bitter slogans against Congress and NCP.

Sources also confirmed the BJP is watching developments keenly as Sena has joined hands with Congress and NCP in the House on the loan waiver issue.