Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday lambasted his Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for prioritising poll campaigning in Telangana over addressing the losses faced by farmers in the home State due to unseasonal rains.
Mr. Thackeray called for an immediate cabinet meeting to discuss the issue and provide assistance to affected farmers and highlighted that six persons lost their lives, and 100 cattle perished due to the rains.
“Even grape and onion cultivators have been affected by the unseasonal rains,” he said.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party are allies in Maharashtra.
Questioning the State cabinet’s response to advance alerts from the Meteorological Department, the former Chief Minister said that over one lakh hectare of cultivated land in Marathwada, Vidarbha, and north Maharashtra regions were affected in the past three to four days. “What did the State cabinet do when the MeT department had alerted them about unseasonal rains in advance? There is no government in Maharashtra as everyone is busy in campaigning. It is time to change the government,” he said.
The 63-year-old Sena (UBT) leader questioned the effectiveness of a Chief Minister campaigning in another State while the home State faces crises, declaring such a leader unfit for governance. “A person who does not bother about his own house (State), and goes to another State to campaign for another party is not fit to run the government and he has no right to be in power,” he said.
Both, Mr. Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis visited neighbouring Telangana on the last day of the poll campaign. The high-stakes assembly polls in the Telugu State are scheduled for November 30. Mr. Thackeray claimed that Deputy CMs Mr. Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar are ‘missing in action’.
Further, he targeted the BJP, accusing them of distributing ‘revdis’ (handouts) in other States while neglecting Maharashtra.
