Lok Sabha elections 2024: BJP neglected to serve people of Maharashtra as it was distracted by 'horse-trading' agendas, says Congress

Congress on Wednesday alleged that the BJP has neglected the people of Maharashtra as it was distracted by its own horsetrading and dealmaking agendas reported the PTIThe Congress asked how much donation did it take to engineer the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government as per the PTICongress general secretary Jairam Ramesh attacked the BJP ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis rally in Maharashtras Ramtek and posed questions on key issues affecting the stateToday the PM heads to Ramtek in Maharashtra a state that was rocked by hundreds of farmer suicides last year and where corruption charges continue to pile up Distracted by its own horsetrading and dealmaking agendas the BJP has neglected to serve the people Jairam Ramesh said in a post on XAccording to the PTI posing questions to the prime minister the senior Congress leader said that on an average day in Maharashtra seven farmers take their own lives and this heartbreaking statistic comes from the states Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation who reported that 2366 farmers died by suicide between January and October last yearHe was quick to remind us that The state government gives 1 lakh rupees to the kin of farmers who die by suicide What the Minister did not reveal is the callousness from the government that compels farmers to take such drastic steps in the first place he said the news agency reportedJairam Ramesh claimed that 60 per cent of districts faced drought conditions last year but no help arrived from the governmentWhen crops were damaged by unseasonal rains in more than half of the state farmers were extended loan waivers but 656 lakh farmers were deprived of this relief due to software glitches In the face of this statesponsored callousness the Congress Nyay Patra has guaranteed farmers MSP as per the Swaminathan Committees recommendation a farm loan waiver with a permanent commission set up to implement it smoothly and settlement of all crop insurance claims within 30 days he said reported the PTIWhat is the BJPs vision to support Maharashtras and Indias farmers Jairam Ramesh askedHe said that on January 4 the Joint Director of Health Services procurement cell in Mumbai floated a suspicious tender for the states ambulance servicesThis tender was first floated in September 2023 and then mysteriously scrapped he addedThe latest bid was floated with a notice period of just seven days was a tenyear long contract and carried a massive Rs 8000 crore price tag Despite initial interest from over 30 companies eventually only one bidder emerged and the final contract is expected to exceed 10000 crores by 2034 he said the news agency reported on WednesdayMany questions have been raised about this opaque process Why wasnt the bidding process for the new contract started sooner than January 4th given that the old contract was about to end on Jan 31st Why was the state unable to carry out a forensic audit of the services performance between 2014 and 2024 Why is the operational cost for ambulances so high If the government is willing to make such a large outlay why are ambulance services being outsourced unlike other states where the government owns the vehicles Is this another tender that the BJP was planning to award to one of its cronies in return for some Electoral Bonds Chanda he said according to the PTIRamesh said that Maharashtras 2022 political crisis showed the nation that the BJPs greed for power is much greater than its regard for democratic valuesThey did not hesitate to use their illgotten electoral bonds donation to buy Shiv Sena and NCP MLAs and have destroyed Maharashtras political culture in the process he allegedWe now know that the electoral bonds scam cost Indian citizens Rs 4 lakh crore The question is how much chanda did it take to engineer the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA Sarkar And what price did the people of India have to pay to keep the BJPs horsetrading coffers full Jairam Ramesh said and asked the prime minister to break his silence on these issueswith PTI inputs