Would not join hands with either BJP or MVA, Congress and NCP: Raju Shetti

Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana leader Raju Shetti on Tuesday said his party would not form alliance with either the Bharatiya Janata Party or Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP.

Neither the BJP nor the MVA are working in farmers' interests, he said.

He had joined hands with the BJP in 2014 as then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had assured him that the BJP government would implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan commission, Shetti told reporters here. But the BJP did not keep this promise, he alleged. He also blamed the saffron party for his loss to Shiv Sena's Dhairyasheel Mane in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The MVA supported the amendment to the Land Acquisition Act which was against farmers, he said.

Shetti also claimed that Bharat Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao had invited him to join his party and offered him the post of Maharashtra unit chief, but he declined politely. He praised the Telangana Chief Minister, saying Rao has done much good work for farmers in his state. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was a farce, Shetti said, claiming that only the insurance companies were profiting from it and not farmers.