NCP(SP) President, Sharad Pawar, alleged on Saturday that the Maharashtra Budget 2024-2025 – presented by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the legislature on June 28 – had leaked in advance, and the proposals were made with an eye on the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Speaking to media-persons here, Sharad Pawar said that a day before the state budget was tabled, there were many media reports on the kind of schemes/sops/projects that were expected from the ruling Mahayuti alliance government.
“Schemes like free education for girls, the Rs 1,500 per month dole for poor women, the Rs 20,000 per procession going for the annual Pandharpur pilgrimage, and other details had become common knowledge before the proposals were tabled in the budget. This means that the budget secrecy was not maintained,” said Sharad Pawar.
On the flood of freebies and sops, plus the grandiose proposals made by his nephew and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, the senior Pawar took a swipe saying “with just Rs 70 in the pocket, how will they be able to spend Rs 100.” He said that the schemes announced by the Mahayuti government have little meaning.
Terming the state budget as ‘election-oriented’, he also expressed doubts on the electricity bill waiver proposal for farmers, asking “what is the financial condition of the power companies and unless their losses are compensated, it will be unviable."
“An impression is sought to be created that the budget is very good… But there are many things in the budget which seem impractical and are unlikely to be implemented,” cautioned Sharad Pawar, on the lines of similar reactions by the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP(SP) leaders on Friday.
Referring to the prickly question on the Opposition’s ‘CM-face’ Sharad Pawar quipped that “the united MVA itself will be the face” in the October Assembly elections, and predicted a total sweep by the Opposition on the lines of the Lok Sabha 2024 polls.
“We (MVA-INDIA bloc) have bagged 31 of the 48 LS seats in the state… Prime Minister Narendra Modi held 18 rallies in the state and 14 of the NDA-Mahayuti candidates lost there. A similar picture will be visible in the Assembly elections. People have lost faith in the BJP,” declared Sharad Pawar.
The NCP(SP) supremo started a two-day tour of the drought-hit areas of Kolhapur and surroundings accompanied by local leaders and farmers’ representatives.