Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s remarks praising the agricultural growth of Narendra Modi-run Gujarat has created a controversy.
While the AICC refrained from endorsing his views on the matter, with party spokesperson Manish Tewari telling reporters that they should ask Mr Chavan about it, the BJP congratulated the Maharashtra chief minister for speaking the truth. “If the Maharashtra chief minister has made certain comparisons and made some extrapolations, he is the best person to answer it,” Mr Tewari told reporters here.
Addressing a function at an agricultural university in Ahmednagar on Sunday, Mr Chavan said Gujarat is far ahead of Maharashtra. He had said while agricultural growth in Gujarat stood at 11 per cent, it is only 4.5 per cent in Maharashtra.
The BJP utilised the opportunity to suggest Mr Chavan that he should adopt the Gujarat model. “I congratulate Prithviraj Chavan for speaking the truth about status of agriculture in Gujarat and Maharashtra,” party spokesperson Prakash Javdekar said, recalling that Mr Chavan, not far ago, was AICC general secretary in-charge of Gujarat.
He said when Gujarat and Maharashtra were formed by bifurcating the Bombay state, Gujarat was not known for agriculture while Maharashtra was a premier agriculture state.
Recalling the achievements of the Modi government, he said all these efforts have resulted in bumper crop and prosperous farmer and a growth in the agriculture sector.
“Chavan should find out why a cotton farmer in Gujarat purchases new vehicles every year while more than 500 farmers have committed suicide after Chavan became chief minister. The answer lies in success of vision, action and micro-irrigation by the Narendra Modi government,” he said.