Opposition needs to consolidate anti-BJP votes: Chavan

Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan today said coming together to ensure consolidation of the 69 per cent of votes which went against the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections is the challenge Opposition is facing.
"It's a tough challenge, and we are working on it. The BJP got 31 per cent of votes in 2014 and no way the figure would increase in 2019. The Narendra Modi government has one year to stop making tall promises, event management and sloganeering and to fulfil the expectations it raised," Chavan said.
The former Maharashtra chief minister was addressing a meet at the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) here.

The Modi government's claim that demonetisation will destroy black money and corruption had proved to be completely unfounded, he claimed.
Chavan also said that had the Congress and NCP not split up before the Assembly polls in Maharashtra in 2014, they would have had 35 per cent vote share together, and the election result could have been different.
The BJP-led Union government has not taken the agrarian crisis seriously, he said. The state government has not fulfilled its promise to enact a law to ensure that farmers get Minimum Support Price (MSP), he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised remunerative prices for farm produce during the election campaign, Chavan pointed out.

If farmers' income is protected despite losses in production and or price drop, there will be no demand for loan waiver, he said.
"Hopes were raised but promises were not fulfilled," he said.
Chavan also demanded that the Modi government explain the provisions of Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) bill to people.
"The bill may be necessary to address bankruptcy issues. But there is lot of scare among depositors about its provisions which need to be addressed....The government had failed to address the GST issues and it shouldn't repeat the mistake with the FRDI bill," he said.
Demonetisation and poor implementation of the Goods and Services Tax damaged the growth rate, he said.

He also pointed out that the economy wasn't attracting private investment.
Modi government's thrust on bullet trains was misconceived as the stress should be on indigenously-built high-speed trains, he said.