MUMBAI: Even as the Cabinet approved a special package for 81 irrigation projects worth over Rs 13,000 crore in Vidarbha, Marathwada and other drought prone areas of Maharashtra, NCP MLA Shishikant Shinde on Wednesday linked the government largesse to electoral politics.
"Most of the projects for which the package has been declared are in constituencies of the BJP MPs or MLAs. Hence, the package is meant for helping the BJP than the farmers in the state," Shinde said.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari announced the special package for completion of irrigation projects to check agrarian distress in Vidarbha and Marathwada and other chronically drought prone areas of Maharashtra.
Under the package, the schemes cover 66 projects in Vidarbha while 17 are in Marathwada. There are a few projects from drought-prone areas of North and Western Maharashtra, the area that the BJP is trying to bring under its influence.
The financial package assumes much importance in the backdrop of hydrological and agricultural drought in Maharashtra between 2012 and 2016. The ongoing projects are languishing due to fund constraints. The completion of balance works of these projects will be a boon to areas under them.
The projects covered under the package seem to be carefully selected for covering areas under the BJP's influence while also including those areas under the Opposition sway where the BJP hopes to spread its wings, the opposition leader alleged.