Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over his visit to neighbouring Telangana for poll campaigning amid losses faced by farmers in his home state due to unseasonal rains.
Addressing a news conference, Thackeray demanded that a cabinet meeting be held immediately to discuss the issue and farmers be given assistance at the earliest.
He said six people have lost their lives due to unseasonal rains in the state, while 100 cattle have also perished.
Grape and onion cultivators in Maharashtra have also been affected by the unseasonal rains, the former chief minister said.
When the MeT department had alerted about unseasonal rains in advance, what did the state cabinet do? he asked.
Thackeray said a preliminary information he has received suggests that nearly 1 lakh hectare of land under cultivation in Marathwada, Vidarbha and north Maharashtra was affected due to unseasonal rains since last three-four days.
“There is no government in Maharashtra as everyone is busy in campaigning. It is time to change the government,” Thackeray said.
“A person who does not bother about his own house (state) and goes to another state to campaign for another party is not fit to run the government and he has no right to be in power,” the Sena (UBT) leader claimed.
Shinde visited Telangana on Tuesday to campaign for the BJP. The assembly polls in Telangana are scheduled for November 30.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP are allies in Maharashtra.
“The chief minister who cannot handle his own house and is peeping into homes of others cannot give justice to the state,” Thackeray said.
Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar are also “missing in action”, he claimed.
Thackeray also targeted the ruling BJP saying while it is busy distributing “revdis” (doles) in other states, what has it done for Maharashtra.
