Maharashtra govt’s 100-day report card reflects ‘cold war’ among Mahayuti partners Sapkal

Nagpur, May 2 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal on Friday claimed that the state government’s 100-day report card has once again brought to the fore the “cold war” among the ruling Mahayuti partners.
    Through the report card, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has tried to project that he and his departments performed better than those under the BJP’s alliance partners, Shiv Sena and NCP, the Congress leader told reporters here.
    After taking charge as the CM in December last year following Mahayuti’s impressive victory in the assembly elections, Fadnavis had set a 100-day programme for each department, setting ambitious targets.
    A dozen of the 48 departments had scored a perfect 100, and 18 others had achieved more than 80 per cent of their targets in the given period, Fadnavis announced on Thursday.
    Responding to questions about the report card, Sapkal said that in the past 100 days, the state saw a game of one-upmanship among the three Mahayuti constituents.
    During the past 100 days, several demands were made for the resignation of ministers and the CM. One minister had to resign, while another was convicted, he said.
    Sapkal was referring to NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who resigned as a minister after his close aide Walmik Karard was made an accused in the Beed sarpanch murder case, and the conviction of agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate in a cheating and forgery case of 1995.
    Sapkal said that the Women and Child Development Department has been shown as a top performer despite failing to fulfil the promise of raising the monthly assistance under the Ladki Bahin scheme from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100. “This is ridiculous,” he said.
    “The CM did not leave any opportunity to show how he and his departments performed well, and the departments helmed by others (alliance partners) underperformed. The Urban Development Department (headed by Shiv Sena chief and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde) was deliberately given a low score,” he said.
    This report card brings the ‘cold war’ among the three ruling parties to the forefront, and also indicates that Fadnavis holds the upper hand, said the Congress leader.
    From the workings of this government in Maharashtra, one can conclude that they have destroyed the democratic process, which is very unfortunate, he said.
    Sapkal accused the Mahayuti of stealing votes to return to power. “They could not explain how the number of voters went up by 75 lakh in the state after the Lok Sabha elections. They are not even eligible for this performance review,” he said.
    He also welcomed the Centre’s decision to conduct a caste census. “This is clearly a victory for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had been pitching for it. But the decision should not become an election jumla (gimmick) of the BJP,” he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)