Barely a couple of hours before Yogi Adityanath assured Uttar Pradesh 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas', Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar attempted to convince the people as to how the BJP government here was living up to a slogan that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has popularised since early days of his Lok Sabha poll campaign in 2014. Dragging Yogi into this column is not inadvertent but intentional, because a poll promise that the farmers would be given a total loan waiver if the BJP was voted to power, has reflected a lot in the Maharashtra legislature's ongoing budget session.

Fueling the fire
The Opposition disrupted two weeks of proceedings over a demand for a loan waiver, citing the assurance to UP farmers. The Shiv Sena fueled the fire by joining hands with the Opposition, so much so, that rumours were doing rounds that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party was making a serious effort to topple the Devendra Fadnavis government in association with the Congress and the NCP. But all fizzled out as the Sena backed out, and stayed with the BJP while the budget was presented on Saturday. The Sena said it was happy with the Centre's assurance of assisting Maharashtra in offering the distressed farmers a relief in coming days.