Pune: Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil has claimed that former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, who quit the Congress on Thursday, is allegedly not in touch with any leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - which leads the ruling alliance in the state.
Mr Patil, who was in Pune to felicitate volunteers who worked for on a water conservation project across 25 villages in the state, said, “The BJP and Rane are not in touch with each other, and the issue of Rane was not discussed during the meeting of the core committee of the party.” He was responding to a questions on why Rane had criticised all political parties but not the BJP and if the former Congress leader was going to join the saffron party.
However, he refused to comment on whether he would induct him into the party, saying, "I am no authority to take a decision on inviting Rane, and a decision would be taken by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and party chief Amit Shah."
He also tried to explain how the rumour of Mr Rane being offered the PWD had started. He said, “When I was in Konkan to inspect the condition of roads before the Ganpati festival, reporters asked me what would I do if Mr Rane asks for PWD. To this, I answered that I would do anything for party. But my answer was misinterpreted to appear that I would quit the PWD for Rane. I would never make such a statement.”
Stating that the loan amount of farmers would be transferred to banks by October 10 to 15, he said, "The date to submit forms by farmers was extended to September and within a week this information will be uploaded on software. We will also get data from banks. The information by farmers and banks will be collated, and money will be transferred to banks between October 10 and October 15 by the government."
He also said that Osmanabad district has been selected for the place where the loan waiver amount would be transferred in the first week of October. He said, “Diwakar Raote, guardian minister of the district, has taken responsibility to expedite the process to get data received by bans and farmers processed. And amount of loan waiver for illegible farmers for loan will be transferred in the first week of October.”
