1 week Ago
State chief Harshvardhan Sapkal was also of the opinion that the issue of Aurangzeb’s tomb was created just to deviate the attention of people from real issues during the last budget session The Maharashtra Congress is planning to launch a state-wide agitation against the Mahayuti government for not conducting the long-pending elections of municipalities, with state chief Harshvardhan Sapkal calling it a ploy to avoid decentralisation of power. Speaking to CNN-News18, Sapkal said: “BJP doesn’t like the decentralisation of power. They are firm believers in centralisation, hence they are against holding elections for local bodies in the state.
" Sapkal was also of the opinion that the issue of Aurangzeb’s tomb was created just to deviate the attention of people from real issues during the last budget session. “There is no place for diversity in RSS’s idea of India. Whatever doesn’t fit in their idea of India, they want to demolish or destroy.
In fact, they have objections to many things which are part of Hindu religion. Such statements are nothing but a cover-up for their own deeds." The state chief brought attention to two ongoing issues in Maharashtra — water shortage and inflated electricity bills.
Criticising the Jal Jeevan Mission of the central government, he called it a ‘scam’ and said: “This scheme has not reached the needy. This government has not even investigated this scam. If you see the water crisis in rural Maharashtra, it is severe and requires immediate attention.
" Sapkal termed Fadnavis’s ambitious ‘Jalyukt Shivar’ project another scam to loot the treasury and fool people. “This scheme is nothing but another way of looting people’s money. What they couldn’t achieve via Jal Jeevan Mission, they tried to attempt via Jalyukt Shivar.
But now this government has found another way to loot money from people with a new scandal called the Smart Electricity Bill. As per the report from ground zero, people are getting inflated bills which are 30-40 per cent higher than what they used to get earlier." Sapkal added: “Fadnavis had promised to cut the electricity tariff, which he did, but within a few days, people started getting inflated bills.
" The Congress leader also said the Mahayuti government does not respect democratic values, and is thus trying to suppress the voice of the Opposition inside the assembly. “The BJP government at the Centre and in the state is more interested in bulldozer politics instead of parliamentary democracy. They want to bulldoze our voice, the questions we raise.
They turn a blind eye towards the Opposition. In such a scenario, we want people to also participate and make them hear the real issues. Unless we get people’s support, this government is not going to listen to us.
Provision for giving space to opposition parties is not there in this government." On the question of the Governor’s role in democracy, Sapkal reacted: “It will be better if we don’t speak about the last Governor who disrespected Mahatma Phule, sidelined the constitutional process, and conducted early morning swearing-in. We met the Governor a few days back with a fact-finding report on the Nagpur violence.
" The Congress party has given charge of the state to Sapkal at a crucial juncture, given that the party had faced defeat in assembly elections and the morale of the cadre is down. In such a scenario, for the next five years, Sapkal has a plan to strengthen the party by engaging in an ideological fight with the BJP..
