MVA boycotts CM’s tea meet over LoP delay, farmer suicides and trade deal concerns

Mumbai: Citing multiple issues—including the delay in appointing Leaders of the Opposition, questions regarding accident or sabotage concerning the plane crash involving former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, farmer suicides, the law and order situation and the Indo-US trade deal—the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Sunday boycotted the customary tea meeting hosted by the Chief Minister on the eve of the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature.

On Sunday, leaders from the opposition parties including Congress party’s Vijay Wadettiwar, Amin Patel and Satej Patil, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Aaditya Thackeray, Bhaskar Jadhav and Ajay Chaudhary and Anil Parab attended the meeting.

“You will all ask now…that there are three parties in the MVA…the opposition alliance remained united and there was a communication gap,” Jadhav said, adding that NCP (SP) legislator Milind Kamble will join. A little later, he arrived.

The session comes at a time when the weak opposition benches already seem to have differences regarding the forthcoming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council.

“The ruling party is arrogant and shows little respect towards the Opposition. Since there is no respect, no decency and no regard for the Constitution, we have decided to decline the high tea invitation,” Jadhav said adding that the trade deal between India and the United States, would adversely affect cotton growers and fisherfolk from the State.

Slamming the Devendra Fadnavis-headed BJP-led Maha Yuti government over the “ambiguous stand” on the death of Ajit Pawar in a plane accident.

The opposition leaders also criticized the State Government over the execution of the Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme, claiming that before the 2024 Assembly elections, it disbursed Rs 1,500 per month to women without any verification and “bought votes”, however, it has now declared more than 50 lakh women ineligible on trivial grounds. “Many women will not receive the allowance because they have not completed e-KYC,” he said.

Wadettiwar said 22 farmers died by suicide in Yavatmal in January itself, while 76 ended their lives in the Marathwada region, alleging that the State Government had done nothing about it.