NCP (SP)’s ‘charge sheet’ against Maharashtra govt flags law and order ‘collapse’, industry shift

Press Trust of India Mumbai: Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, the NCP (SP) on Wednesday came up with a “charge sheet” against the Mahayuti government, highlighting the shifting of industries from the state and the “collapse” of law and order. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) launched a campaign focusing on ten critical areas including the “economic decline of Maharashtra, flight of industries, and women’s safety”. The party leaders, led by Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule and Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil, marched from the Mahatma Gandhi statue near Mantralaya to the statue of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and later walked to Hutatma Chowk in south Mumbai.

“We are launching the ‘Hakk Magtoy Maharashtra’ (state demanding rights) campaign across the state. We stand united to create a charge sheet against the Maharashtra government,” Jayant Patil told reporters. This campaign is characterised by audio-visual outreach, including advertisements, on various media and a new song. The first advertisement focuses on “rising unemployment and the shifting of key projects to Gujarat”, he said. “In the last ten years, the BJP and its two allies (NCP led by Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena) have weakened the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Jyotiba Shahu, Jyotiba Phule, and B R Ambedkar,” Patil alleged. Alleging agricultural distress, Patil claimed farmers are suffering because they want fair prices for soybeans, onions, and oranges. They are not given drought relief and are awaiting crop insurance. “Dairy farmers, in particular, bore the brunt of this government’s actions,” he added.

Patil alleged the common people are reeling under inflation and the spike in prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and electricity, and despite being the highest contributor to the GST payment pool, Maharashtra failed to get any justice in the Union Budget, unlike neighbouring states. He claimed state BJP’s “dependence” on Union Home Minister Amit Shah indicates the change of government in Maharashtra after the elecions.