Shiv Sena chief to visit drought-hit areas from today

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will kick-start a tour of the state’s drought-affected areas on June 9. Political observers, however, have termed the move ‘too late’ as the monsoon is almost on the verge of arrival.

In the Lok Sabha polls, Shiv Sena performed impressively as 18 party MPs were elected from the state. After the polls, Mr Thackeray went to Karla and Kolhapur to seek blessings of Ekveera Devi and Ambabai. Followed by this, he has now decided to visit drought-affected areas.

However, the pre-monsoon showers have already started in some parts of the state.

According to party sources, while the state was reeling under the drought, the Lok Sabha polls were in progress. While all were busy in campaigning, the ruling party members could not tour drought-hit regions due to the code of conduct for Lok Sabha polls.

After the polls were over, Opposition parties immediately started visiting the drought-hit areas while from the government, the guardian ministers toured the region.

Many have raised questions over the Shiv Sena’s tour. “It will serve no purpose as the monsoon is likely to arrive in the state in few days. If they were really concerned about drought-affected people, they should have started the tour immediately after the Lok Sabha polls,” said a political observer.

In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana recently, the Sena targeted the BJP government over rising unemployment and the economic slowdown, saying that engaging in ‘mere wordplay’ was not going to solve any problem.

The Sena’s attack came after official data released said that India’s economic growth rate had slowed down to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent in January-March 2018-19 due to poor performance in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

The Central Statistics Office also revealed that GDP growth during the 2018-19 fiscal stood at 6.8 per cent, compared to 7.2 per cent in the previous financial year.