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HomePoliticsFadnavis’s BJP govt has failed to live up to Maharashtra’s mandate: Prithviraj...

Fadnavis’s BJP govt has failed to live up to Maharashtra’s mandate: Prithviraj Chavan

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Congress leader and former CM says Fadnavis is running a ‘one-man show’, but his government hasn’t delivered on infrastructure or the BJP’s other promises.

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government completes three years in Maharashtra on 31 October, after the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) coalition’s 15-year reign.

The BJP won 122 seats in the 288-member house, and formed the government under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis, with help from the Shiv Sena’s 63 seats. The party’s pre-poll promises included clean governance, speedy infrastructure development, and resolving a deep agrarian crisis. So, has it delivered on these promises in the last three years?

In an interview to ThePrint, Congress leader and Fadnavis’s predecessor as chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said while the Fadnavis government enjoyed a similar amount of control to powerful former CMs Sharad Pawar, Sudhakarrao Naik, and Vasantdada Patil, it had failed to measure up to expectations. Excerpts:

What do you think about the BJP-led government’s performance in three years?

It has been a total failure. I say this not just from a political standpoint, but from the point of view of the mandate the government has. Ours was a coalition government of two almost equal partners.

The Fadnavis-led government has no such qualms. He doesn’t have a deputy CM. His party controls important portfolios like Home and Finance.

On the flip side, barring one or two, none, including the CM, had any prior ministerial experience. Initially, we saw ministers making mistakes, and facing corruption charges, most of which the CM ignored, except conveniently the one against Eknath Khadse.

Khadse was sulking and could have been a thorn in their side. But after Khadse’s exit from the cabinet, it was a complete one-man show, virtually like the olden days of Indira Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Sudhakarrao Naik, and Vasantdada Patil. In that context, we expected a lot more.

Why has the Congress not been a strong opposition in Maharashtra?

I won’t say why, but the fact is there were opportunities right from demonetisation to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, to the lack of progress of infrastructure projects.

We should have pursued all these issues much more aggressively and intellectually by reaching out to the people. We have not used the opportunity that the government presented us.

After much pressure from the opposition, the government accepted the demand for a farm loan waiver. Is it likely to help deal with the agrarian distress in the state?

The CM’s mindset was that loan waivers only help banks, and most cooperative banks are controlled by the NCP and the Congress. The Uttar Pradesh farm loan waiver and the violence in Madhya Pradesh over the issue forced the CM to announce a loan waiver, but his heart is still not in it. He thinks it is a waste of money.

The implementation of the loan waiver is being completely mishandled. The government is not able to get its Information Technology Act together. The obsession with the quick digitisation of the economy, forced on the state government by New Delhi, is a causing huge harassment to the people.

There is a perception that the Fadnavis government has done away with the policy paralysis that had gripped your government, especially in the case of infrastructure. What is your opinion?

The major projects launched in my tenure, such as a coastal road, a sea link, and the Navi Mumbai airport, have not moved forward. The Smart City project has bombed.

The government should ideally focus on building new townships such as NAINA. The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is on the back burner. With regards to Metro rail projects, the roadmap was already in place. The only new project that the CM announced is the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway, the economic benefits of which are still not clear.

Even in case of our cultural icons, not a single brick has been laid for the Dr BR Ambedkar and the Chhatrapati Shivaji memorials. We are completely against the bullet train, as there is no economic benefit for us. It will only spur Ahmedabad’s growth at the cost of Mumbai.

What do you think about the Shiv Sena’s role in the government? The party has often praised the Congress in its opposition to the BJP. Would you be open to a tie-up with the Sena to fight the BJP?

The Shiv Sena’s hypocrisy is coming to light, but the CM has not called its bluff, because he cannot depend on the NCP to bail the government out. The right place to resolve your differences is in the cabinet or between a meeting of the two leaders. But there, Shiv Sena leaders simply have tea and biscuits and come out.

At some places we can have a tactical understanding with them, in order to defeat BJP. Why shouldn’t all three parties come together? I will support such an understanding on a case-to-case basis.

How have relations with the NCP been in Maharashtra?

Good and bad. On the very first day, the NCP gave unconditional support to the BJP, and we were completely shocked. Even today, there is no clarity, but then that’s NCP.

The Congress recently had a resounding victory in the Nanded municipal corporation polls. What is the party doing to capitalise on it in the run up to the 2019 assembly polls?

The only way to capitalise on the victory is to hit the road and go to the people, hold public meetings, tell people why Nanded voters went against the BJP. For 2019, regular preparations are on. We are also preparing for a re-election. But we have to basically hit the road and convince people that the government has totally failed. That is one part.

The second part is, how do we consolidate ourselves? After party elections get over, perhaps the picture will be clearer as to what kind of fight the Congress plans to put together.

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