Key points:
- CM Uddhav Thackeray’s government withdraws August order to implement new farm laws under pressure from Congress.
- The order was withdrawn as both the NCP and the Congress, the two other parties in the coalition government, opposed to it.
The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra on Wednesday withdrew its August order to implement new farm laws in the state, after facing pressure from its allies, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, the Hindustan Times reported.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led government was already in crisis over the implementation of the agriculture reform laws, which were recently passed by the Parliament, after Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) opposed the farm laws in the state, calling them “anti-farmer”.
Last week, deputy Maharashtra chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar had announced that the state government would not implement the agriculture reform laws.
Deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar announced last week that the state government would not implement the farm laws in the state.
On Monday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had advised the states ruled by the party to inspect all possibilities of legislation under the Constitution’s Article 254(2) to negate the “anti-agricultural laws” and to prevent the “grave injustice” being done to farmers.
Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat had earlier claimed that all the three ruling parties have opposed the bills. The parties were to raise the issue at the cabinet meeting, which is being held today.
The Upper House of Parliament recently cleared farm reform laws amid uproar and protests from the opposition parties in the house. Since then, opposition parties and several farmers’ groups all across India have been carrying out protests against the laws.
