NCP boss Sharad Pawar will be the architect of the farm loan waiver that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is expected to announce in days to come. The former union agriculture minister, who had presided over a mega loan waiver during the UPA I regime across the country, was holed in a meeting with Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and senior leaders of the MVA in Nagpur on Thursday.

The BJP-led opposition has been grilling the government over the demand that was actually raised by the CM himself during the election campaign. He wanted at least R25,000 per hectare to be given to the farmers without having a cap on landholding. The previous government of which the Sena was a constituent had offered relief to the indebted farmers, but Thackeray wanted a total waiver instead of a partial one. Sources said Pawar has advised the Maharashtra policy-makers on making a new scheme that should be rolled out in due course of time.