Contract recruitment: Apologise to people, Congress' Patole tells BJP

Mumbai, Oct 21 (PTI) The Bharatiya Janata Party should apologise and also get Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Ajit Pawar to do the same for the injustice done to the youth through contract recruitment, state Congress president Nana Patole said on Saturday.

The BJP should not indulge in fake protests on the issue, he added.

The BJP held protests in several parts of the state during the day asking the Maha Vikas Aghadi and previous Congress-led dispensations as well as its leaders like Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar to apologise for bringing in contract recruitment into the process of government hiring.

Fadnavis on Friday announced scrapping of a government order meant for recruiting staff on a contract basis by nine private agencies, and said it was the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation which had taken a decision to hire workforce on short-term basis.

The BJP and Devendra Fadnavis have deprived youth of jobs, while projects of the state have gone to Gujarat, Patole told reporters.

"The BJP and Fadnavis should stop this gimmick (of protests) and must apologise and also ask Shinde and Ajit Pawar to do the same. Fadnavis is misleading people on the issue of contract recruitment," he said.

"The youth have understood the falsehoods of the BJP. While 2.5 lakh government posts are vacant in Maharashtra, the BJP government is not filling these posts. The BJP is behind the scams in teacher recruitment, police recruitment, MPSC exams and talathi recruitment," he alleged.

Attacking the BJP over farmer suicides, unemployment and industries moving out of Maharashtra, Patole claimed several youth who cleared exams were yet to get appointment letters even after two to three years.

"Last month a GR (government resolution) was issued to fill highly important posts like that of tehsildar and naib tehsildar on contract basis instead of recruitment through MPSC exams. Fadnavis is trying to keep his image clean by blaming others," Patole said.

The BJP government in the state has deprived lakhs of youth of jobs by allowing projects like Vedanta Foxcoon, Tata Airbus etc to leave the state and set up units elsewhere, he said.

"Farmers' suicides have increased, there is no remunerative price for farm produce, crime has increased, inflation is at all time high and bullying by ruling MLAs and MPs has gone up," he alleged.

"Even if the BJP, Fadnavis and (state unit chief) Chandrashekhar Bawankule apologise a hundred times to the people of Maharashtra, their sins will not be washed away. People have recognised the BJP's sinister plans and will teach them a lesson by sending them home (defeat in polls)," Patole said. PTI MR BNM BNM