BJP is a 'cancer' that needs to be destroyed in polls: Chavan

The BJP is a "cancer" India has developed and the party will "destroy" the country unless it is rooted out in the 2019 general polls, Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said Wednesday.

He alleged it was due to the "wrong policies" of the BJP-Shiv Sena government that the farmers in Maharashtra are suffering and the agrarian crisis had deepened.

The Lok Sabha MP from Nanded also hit out at the Shiv Sena, saying it has been "helpless for power" and charged the party with politicising the Ram temple issue for it has no performance to show to seek votes.

The former chief minister also termed Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's recent Ayodhya visit as a "publicity stunt".

"The BJP is a cancer the country has contracted. The country will be destroyed if this cancer is not rooted out in the upcoming (general) polls," Chavan said at a rally in Morshi, Amravati district.

The rally was organised as part of the fourth leg of the 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' the Congress has taken out in the Vidarbha region.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, All India Congress Committee secretary Ashish Dua, ex-state minister Naseem Khan and others took part in the rally.

Attacking the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation in the state, Ashok Chavan said it has been over a year since the government announced a farm loan waiver, but farmers have not yet benefited from it.

He said the drought-like situation in the state has turned grave and that the government has "not started taking steps to combat it".

Claiming farmers are committing suicides daily in Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan alleged the BJP chief minister had failed in governing the state.

"The BJP is trying to win elections using money...but the people will show the BJP its place defeating it in the elections," Ashok Chavan said.

Speaking on the occasion, Prithviraj Chavan alleged the country's economy was in peril under the BJP's watch.

"The decision of demonetisation has ruined industries and caused rise in unemployment. Since the government lacks financial, they are increasing taxes to loot the people," he said.

The opposition party has covered parts of Western Maharashtra, Marathwada and North Maharashtra regions in the previous three rounds of the yatra.