Maharashtra winter session ‘poll jumla’; focused on Rs 75,000-cr supplementary demands: Opposition

Nagpur, Dec 14 (PTI) The Opposition on Sunday called the seven-day winter session of the Maharashtra legislature an “election jumla”, claiming that the government primarily focused on clearing Rs 75,000 crore in supplementary demands to distribute “revdis” ahead of the upcoming local body polls.

Many opposition leaders, including Bhaskar Jadhav of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress’ Vijay Wadettiwar and Satej Patil, and Jayant Patil from NCP (SP), expressed disappointment over what they described as the government’s failure to address key regional and policy issues.

The issues discussed during the winter session in Nagpur were more about Mumbai than Vidarbha, they said.

The first phase of elections to various local bodies was held on December 2. The schedule for polls to various civic bodies, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, has not yet been announced.

Polls to the urban and local bodies in the state are to be completed by January 31, 2026, as per the Supreme Court’s order.

Nothing concrete came up during the session, which concluded on Sunday, on the important issue of malnutrition, Wadettiwar said at a press conference here. The Opposition’s demands for farmers, irrigation and other issues were completely ignored, he claimed.

“The winter session was an election jumla. The issues discussed in the Calling Attention motion were more related to Mumbai and less concerning Vidarbha, with no time restrictions,” said Wadettiwar, who is the Congress Legislature Party leader in the state assembly.

Not a single new dam has been built in Vidarbha since the BJP came to power in 2014, he said.

The Congress leader said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s speech on the concluding day relied on wordplay and it was “old wine in a new bottle”. “It was a copy-and-paste job,” he claimed.

Corruption has risen in the state, alleged the Congress leader, adding that the Opposition also cited examples.

Jadhav of Sena (UBT) said there was nothing fruitful in the winter session for the people of Vidarbha and Marathwada.

“The session was held just to grab funds by way of approving the supplementary demands and to distribute ‘revdis’ (freebies) ahead of the local body elections. That’s why we skipped the customary tea party on the session eve,” he said.

The Sena (UBT) leader said the government got the supplementary demands of Rs 75,000 crore approved in just two days. “As soon as it was done, ministers started skipping the session,” he claimed.

The legislature worked for an average of ten hours every day, which shows that the Opposition cooperated with the ruling parties in the larger public interest, he said.

“However, none of the decisions were taken in the interest of the people of Vidarbha. All announcements were made keeping the upcoming municipal corporation elections in mind, especially in Mumbai,” claimed Jadhav.

CM Fadnavis’s speech in the legislative assembly was identical to the one he had given during the budget session in Mumbai, said Jadhav, claiming that the CM neither mentioned the “water drought” in the state nor talked about farm loan waiver.

Jayant Patil said that 190 MoUs were signed by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) with an investment potential of Rs 20.62 lakh crore from 2022 and were expected to create around 13 lakh jobs, but the government gave no concrete answers on them.

He said the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation had signed 190 MoUs since 2022, with an investment potential of Rs 20.62 lakh crore and an expected employment generation of around 13 lakh, but the government gave no concrete answers on their status.

Drug menace is on the rise in the state, while the crime rate is going up in Pune, he said and also rued that the duration of the winter session was “too short”.

“The only objective of the session seems to be getting the supplementary demands approved,” he said.

Congress leader Satej Patil said the government did not address the issues of cotton, soyabean and orange growers. It only made big announcements with no money in hand. "It made so many announcements that even the supplementary demands of Rs 75,000 crore would fall short," he said.

Sena (UBT) leader Sachin Ahir said that the last-week resolution speech was mostly limited to attacking his party head and former CM Uddhav Thackeray.

"By reversing old decisions, the CM and deputy CMs unleashed a barrage of announcements. They did not do justice to the issues raised by the Opposition," he added. PTI PR CLS GK NR