Shiv Sena plays Opposition in LS, raises public issues

As signals emerged of a government formation led by Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the former NDA partner got into the Opposition mode in Parliament, training guns on the Modi government in Lok Sabha over a number of public issues on Thursday.

Raising the farmers' plight due to unseasonal rain in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena member Bhavana Gawali said they have demanded that the government take immediate measures to address their problems.

Hoping that the government will soon be formed in Maharashtra which is currently under the President's rule, the Shiv Sena MP from Yavatmal urged Congress' acting president Sonia Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar to take “initiatives” towards government formation in the State.

“Farmers have been committing suicide in the state. The farmers' crops have been damaged (due to unseasonal rain). This will further accentuate their plight,” she said.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has been talking about the farmers' plight and “is very keen” to help them by providing debt relief, she added.

Another Shiv Sena member Shrikant Shinde raised the problems being faced by people due to delay in allocation of space for the office of Post Office Passport Sewa in his constituency, Kalyan in Maharashtra.

“I have written (to the Union government) several times in this regard,” he said, demanding that office space be provided immediately for the functioning of the Post Office Passport Sewa centre.

Raising an issue pertaining to the implementation of a central government scheme for farmers welfare, Shiv Sena member Om Prakash B said in Lok Sabha that several farmers were not getting the benefit of Prime Minister Kisan Samman Yojna.

“Out of 400 beneficiaries, only 100 are getting pension benefits under the scheme. The district magistrate says there is some problem in the online system,” he said, demanding that the problems in the system be fixed so that all farmers get pension under the scheme.

Other members of the party also raised public issues in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour.

Shiv Sena, which has 18 MPs in Lok Sabha, recently decided to quit the NDA and join hands with NCP and Congress to form government in Maharashtra following its tussle with the BJP over government formation after the State assembly polls results.