Landslide defeat awaits Mahayuti govt in Maharashtra Assembly polls: Congress

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The Congress on Monday slammed the Mahayuti government on Monday, September 30, for "bringing about Maharashtra's financial ruin". The party further stated that the "incoming" Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government will restore the state's economic growth story, delivering on both existing subsidies and other commitments, news agency PTI reported.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh cited Union minister Nitin Gadkari's remarks to hit out at the Maharashtra government. Gadkari had said the 'Ladki Bahin' scheme could affect the timely payment of subsidies in other sectors.

"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 Bharatiya Janata Party's "puppet sarkar" in Maharashtra.

He claimed that owing to an "emergency fund shortage", the aid for the families of farmers who died by suicide was cancelled and restored only after pressure from the opposition.

400 contractors of PWD not paid salaries for 15 months: Jairam Ramesh

Ramesh further alleged that more than 400 contractors of the public works department (PWD) have not been paid for 15 months.

"Maharashtra's fiscal deficit has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, and the total debt burden has crossed Rs 7 lakh crore. This is almost 20 per cent of the state GDP (gross domestic product), and the second-highest in India. Maharashtra's GDP growth has slowed to just over 5 per cent this year owing to the ruinous spending and mismanagement of funds. Meanwhile, Telangana is growing at 13 per cent, and Karnataka and Himachal at 10 per cent," he claimed, adding, "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."

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.

(With PTI inputs)