BJP reminds Uddhav of his Rs 25k aid to farmers demand

The BJP on Tuesday reminded Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray of his own previous demand, before he took charge of the top post, of providing Rs 25,000 per hectare assistance to farmers affected by unseasonal rains.

Referring to a report published on this in a last month's edition of the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', the BJP legislators marched to the Vidhan Bhawan premises here with flex boards carrying a copy of that news.

The Sena last month dubbed as inadequate the Rs 10,000 crore aid announced by the then BJP-led state government for crop damage due to unseasonal rains.

An editorial in 'Saamana' last month said the woes of cultivators should be addressed and they should be given Rs 25,000 per hectare.

Latching on to that article, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Devendra Fadnavis along with state BJP president Chandrakant Patil marched to the Vidhan Bhawan here on Tuesday with flex boards carrying the report published in the Marathi daily.

Before the commencement of the state legislature's winter session here, Fadnavis on Sunday demanded that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government led by Thackeray to disburse Rs 23,000 crore to farmers for waiving their outstanding loans.

The former chief minister said Thackeray, and the NCP and Congress earlier demanded disbursement of Rs 23,000 crore.

"Now it is time for them (as part of the alliance government) to implement it," he said.

Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena president, took over as chief minister of the state on November 28.