New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) The Congress on Monday accused the Mahayuti government of bringing about Maharashtra’s “financial ruin” and said the “incoming” Maha Vikas Aghadi government will restore the state’s economic growth story, delivering on both existing subsidies and other commitments.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh cited Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s remarks that the Maharashtra government’s “Ladki Bahin” scheme could affect the timely payment of subsidies in other sectors to hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“After the landslide defeats faced by Mahayuti candidates across Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections, the khokhe sarkaar’s strategists came up with the Ladki Bahin Yojana to salvage their fortunes. It was a purely political ploy, introduced without any forethought or concern for the finances of the state,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
“Now, Nitin Gadkari, a senior Union minister, has admitted that Maharashtra is in such fiscal distress that it cannot pay out subsidies for other schemes,” he added.
The Congress leader then cited “facts about the financial ruin” brought about by the BJP’s “puppet sarkar” in Maharashtra.
Due to an “emergency fund shortage”, the aid for the families of farmers who died by suicide was cancelled and was restored only after pressure from the opposition, he claimed.
More than 400 contractors of the public works department (PWD) have not been paid for 15 months, Ramesh said.
“Maharashtra’s fiscal deficit has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, and the total debt burden has crossed Rs 7 lakh crore — that is almost 20 per cent of the state GDP, and the 2nd-highest in India. Due to the ruinous spending and mismanagement of funds, Maharashtra’s GDP growth has slowed to just over 5 per cent this year. Meanwhile, Telangana is growing at 13 per cent, and Karnataka and Himachal are growing at 10 per cent,” he said.
“The Mahayuti is a government of horse-trading and back-room politics. It does not have public legitimacy, nor does it have the ability to govern. It is a political alliance built on the shared interest of looting from the state’s exchequer,” the Congress leader alleged.
Ramesh said the Mahayuti government has overseen a decade where the once nation-leading state of Maharashtra has fallen behind other top-performing states.
“A landslide defeat awaits the Mahayuti. The incoming MVA sarkar will restore Maharashtra’s economic growth story, rescue it from fiscal mismanagement, and deliver on both existing subsidies and other commitments to Maharashtra’s families,” he said.
Assembly polls are due in Maharashtra later this year. PTI ASK RC
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