Mumbai, Dec 4 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress president Harshawardhan Sapkal on Thursday accused the Mahayuti government, which will complete a year in power on Friday, of not fulfilling its commitments on issues like farm loan waiver and employment.
Speaking to reporters here, Sapkal also alleged serious irregularities in the recently held local body polls and demanded that the Election Commission take immediate action.
The Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena, won 235 seats in the 288-member House in the November 2024 assembly polls. Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister on December 5.
Sapkal claimed the government has not fulfilled its commitments on financial support for women, farm loan waiver and jobs for youth.
He also alleged that crime networks and corruption had increased, and key public issues were being ignored.
“This has been a year of financial and intellectual bankruptcy,” the state Congress chief charged.
He also alleged serious irregularities in the first phase of elections to 263 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra held on Tuesday.
Sapkal claimed that election officials at Salekasa Nagar Panchayat in Gondia district opened the seal of 17 EVMs after voting hours and allowed voting again, but no FIR had been registered.
The incident raised questions over the fairness of the election process, he said.
The State Election Commission officials could not be contacted for a reaction in the matter.
The local body polls were being held after 10 years following a Supreme Court directive, but the conduct of authorities has led to “concerns over transparency,” Sapkal claimed.
He said the Congress has been raising issues of bogus voting, errors in electoral rolls and lack of reforms, and will hold a rally in New Delhi on December 14 against alleged vote manipulation.
Sapkal also accused the Maharashtra government of failing to support farmers affected by heavy rain between May and October.
Crops and farmland were damaged across several districts, yet there was no clarity on the Rs 33,000-crore relief package announced by the state government, he said.
The Congress leader claimed that the state government had not sent a proposal to the Centre for financial support, and therefore did not receive funds. “This indicates there is no intention to help farmers,” he alleged.
Sapkal also targeted the government over the arrest of Shital Tejwani, an accused in the case linked to the controversial sale of government land in the Mundhwa area of Pune to a company owned by Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s son Parth.
Tejwani’s arrest shows that she was being made a scapegoat, while no action was taken against Parth Pawar, Sapkal said.
On the Nashik civic body’s plan to cut down more than 1,700 trees in the Tapovan area for the upcoming Kumbh Mela, he said the area has religious significance and the tree felling was avoidable. PTI MR GK
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