Mahayuti in Marathwada Faces Ghost of Lok Sabha Debacle
Cotton farmers of Marathwada in Maharashtra Image credit X.com @RahulGandhi
Congress Rides Soybean Farmer Distress to Test BJP-led Mahayuti in Maharashtra Elections
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, November 14: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is caught in a daunting task to reverse the reversals of the Lok Sabha elections in the Marathwada region in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Opposition has turned the heat on the BJP-led Mahayuti with claims that the procurement of Soybean and cotton is short of the target.
A total of 46 Assembly seats in the Marathwada region are at the stake in the November 20 polls. The region has a total of eight Lok Sabha seats. The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had swept the Marathwada region in the Lok Sabha elections.
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The BJP had drawn a blank in the region. The MVA had won seven Lok Sabha seats. The Maratha reservation agitation and anger of the onion farmers were widely believed to have wiped out the Mahayuti in the Marathwada region in the Lok Sabha elections.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday posted a video, claiming that farmers in the Marathwada region are losing ₹1000 per quintal for the soybean crop. “Farmers of Maharashtra were telling me that cost of growing soybean is ₹4000/quintal while the selling price is ₹3000/quintal. They are losing ₹1000/quintal,” said Gandhi in a post on X along with a video of his conversations with farmers.
Gandhi also claimed that “forget doubling the income, the BJP has forced farmers to sell their crop at three-fourth of the cost”. The Congress-led Opposition is spotlighting the soybean farmers in the ongoing Assembly elections.
“Maharashtra’s procurement period for soyabean – the shortest of all states – will end in 15 days. Even as this period is set to end, the state has only purchased about 3,888 metric tons of soyabean, as opposed to a sanctioned quantity of 13,08,238 metric tons,” said the Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh in a post on X.
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Ramesh claimed that “Maharashtra has met a whopping 0.3% of its own target!” “Neighbouring Telangana, governed by the Congress, has in the meantime procured nearly 25,000 metric tons of Soyabean, approaching 50 per cent of its target,” added Ramesh.
NAFED, the central procurement agency, has in the meantime stepped up communication to counter the claims of the Opposition on the distress of the soybean farmers in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. “Soybean procurement is underway at Khamgaon in Akola District, Maharashtra. Through NAFED’s dedicated centers, farmers are directly receiving the benefits of Minimum Support Price (MSP) straight into their bank accounts,” said NAFED on Thursday.
The procurement agency in another post stated that “at the Amalner center in Jalgaon district, Soybean procurement is underway ensuring Minimum Support Price of ₹4892 for farmers produce”. The Centre ahead of the announcement of the dates for the Assembly elections had hiked the MSP for Soybean.
Cotton farmers are also voicing concerns at the low prices in markets for their produces. Farmers in Beed and Jalna districts are telling the media persons that the government support is abysmal amid rising production costs of cotton.
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