Samarjeet Ghatge, a prominent BJP leader and son of the late cooperative giant and two-time MLA Vikramsinh Ghatge, on Tuesday officially joined the NCP (SP) and is likely to contest the upcoming Assembly elections from the Kagal, where he is set to challenge NCP (Ajit Pawar) veteran Hasan Mushrif.

Ghatge, who contested as an independent candidate against Mushrif in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections, garnered an impressive 88,303 votes. Despite narrowly losing to Mushrif, who secured 1,16,436 votes. Ghatge is a descendant of the esteemed social reformer Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

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NCP SP chief Sharad Pawar welcomed Ghatge into the NCP fold, saying, “We will not rest till we change the government in Maharashtra.”

Pawar also reflected on broader agricultural issues, contrasting the achievements during his tenure as the country’s agriculture minister with the current government’s policies.

“In 2004, I became the country’s Agriculture Minister. The first file brought to me by the secretary was on the lack of stockpiles of grains. He told me we needed to import grains from the US. I said this will not happen. We increased the price of agricultural produce. We revived agriculture, we got new technologies. In 10 years, the country that was importing rice and wheat from abroad became the leading producer of wheat and rice in the world because we respected the farmer because we gave him his due,” Pawar said.

Expressing concern over the current government’s decision to import wheat, Pawar added: “Two days ago, the Union government took a decision to import wheat from abroad. We were exporting wheat to 18 countries. After the Modi government came to power, Indian farmers are facing a crisis. We have to bring foreign grains to survive; this is the situation of the country today.”

Ghatge in his speech highlighted the challenges faced by the agricultural sector. “I request you to personally look into the issue of cooperative sugar mills in my constituency. There must be some economic support offered to revive these mills. Politics has increased tremendously. There is a huge problem faced by farmers,” he said.

NCP (SP) State President Jayant Patil criticised the current state of governance in Maharashtra, pointing to issues of corruption and mismanagement.

“There is no law and order in Maharashtra. A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed because of corruption. But there is corruption in all their projects,” he alleged.

Patil also took a strong stance against the BJP’s communal politics, invoking the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj went to loot Surat. But those who are afraid of the name of Gujarat being taken are sitting in power in Maharashtra. Did Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj go to Surat for a holiday? Someone is committing the sin of changing history. Do not let this continue. We can accept anything else, but we cannot accept an insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,” he said.