Maharashtra govt's rain package betrayed trust of farmers: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Leader of Opposition

Devendra Fadnavis on Friday criticised the Uddhav Thackeray- led government's Rs 10,000-crore assistance to rain-affected people, saying the announcement "betrayed" the trust of farmers.

Earlier in the day, the chief minister announced Rs 10,000 crore aid to rain-affected people in the state, including farmers, and said the relief will be provided by Diwali.

Referring to the demands made by Thackeray during the crop loss last year, when he was a BJP ally, Fadnavis said, "Earlier, Thackeray himself had demanded financial assistance of Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 per hectare for rain-affected farmers. He had even demanded compensation of Rs 1 lakh per hectare. But today's announcement has betrayed the trust of farmers."

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government was showing budgeted provisions as a special package and trying to portray a false picture of helping farmers, the BJP leader alleged.

"It is a lame excuse to point the finger at the Centre for not helping the state at the time of a natural crisis. It is an attempt to hide the MVA government's failure," he alleged.

While announcing the relief package, Thackeray claimed that the Maharashtra government is yet to receive a total of around Rs 38,000 crore from the Centre.

Heavy rains and floods last week claimed several lives in Pune, Aurangabad and Konkan divisions, which also left crops on lakhs of hectares damaged.