Mahayuti expected to face the heat in forthcoming budget session

MUMBAI: With a range of issues going against it, the ruling Mahayuti is expected to face some uneasy moments in the four-week budget session beginning on March 3. The opposition is expected to corner it over its tainted ministers, the spiral in crimes against women, corruption cases against ex-ministers and unrest among farmers over the procurement of agri produce.

The uneasiness over the rift between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Eknath Shinde is also expected to reflect in the budget session. Many projects passed during the previous Shinde government have been either stayed or scrapped by Fadnavis. The CM has on occasion also taken decisions related to departments led by the Shiv Sena, leading to disgruntlement and a sulking Shinde staying away from key meetings and events.

“This uneasiness is bound to reflect during the session, also given that Fadnavis and his other deputy Ajit Pawar share a better relationship,” said a BJP leader. “However, the opposition is one of the weakest in Maharashtra’s history, giving us an edge despite our many issues. Perhaps that is the reason why the Mahayuti has been able to push through despite the outcry against Dhananjay Munde in the murder case of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.”

Another NCP leader, agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate, has been convicted by a Nashik court for using fraudulent documents to get a government quota flat. The opposition alliance, Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), on Sunday afternoon announced that it intended to push for the resignation of Munde and Kokate. It is also expected to corner the government over the dwindling number of beneficiaries in the Ladki Bahin scheme and the decline in the development budget due to such populist schemes.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aadiya Thackeray, in a pre-budget press conference on Sunday, scoffed at Fadnavis’ claim of leading a clean government. “Eknath Shinde’s team of ministers and MLAs is full of criminals,” he said. “Tainted ministers convicted of corruption and having close relations with murderers are sitting in government. Incidents of crime against women are rising. In such a situation, how does the CM claim clean governance?”

Thackeray alleged that the government was protecting anti-social elements for political gain. “Stable government and a good law-and-order situation is a prerequisite for investment and industrial development,” he said. “But with one eye on political gains in some district or region, the government is busy shielding anti-social elements and bringing political pressure on the police.”

NCP (SP) group leader Jitendra Awhad also castigated the government. “From the beginning, we said that Walmik Karad, a close aide of Dhananjay Munde, was the mastermind in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case,” he said. “Now the police have said the same thing in the charge sheet. Munde has openly accepted in the past that Karad is his close aide. The government cannot shrug off the connection.”

Awhad also spoke about the spiralling crimes against women. Citing the rape case at Pune’s Swargate and the harassment of union minister Raksha Khadse’s daughter, he said, “Now, the daughter of a BJP central minister has been harassed by local goons. If she is not safe, imagine the condition of other women.”

While the opposition gets set to confront the government, the cracks within it were visible on the eve of the budget session. Key Congress and NCP (SP) leaders Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar and Jayant Patil skipped the meeting held to chalk out a strategy for the session while other party leaders arrived late for it. The opposition has also not been able to take a call on staking a claim to the post of leader of the opposition in the assembly.

Fadnavis, while taking a dig at the opposition for boycotting the government’s customary tea party, said, “The nine-page letter given by the opposition is a round-up of media reports. There is nothing that the government can seriously take into account during the session.” The CM and his deputy Shinde also rubbished reports of a cold war between them. “What type of cold war? Everything is thanda thanda cool cool,” quipped Shinde.

Both also put up a united front on the issue of Fadnavis staying projects announced by the previous government. “When I speak to the CM, he clarifies that they are just baseless reports,” said Shinde. “Nothing has changed between us except the chairs.” Fadnavis claimed that his remarks to ‘check and update’ complaints were not stay orders. “Some of the actions are taken by lower-level officials without my knowledge, and they do not translate into a stay,” he said.

Fadnavis said that though the state was in a stressed financial condition, his government would try to strike a balance. “The flagship schemes started by us will not be shut, although there will be pruning of beneficiaries as per the norms,” he said. “We will present a balanced budget.”