Winds of change blowing, Maharashtra will lay foundation for BJP's defeat: Patole

Mumbai, Feb 22 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Thursday said winds of change were blowing in the country and that Maharashtra would lay the foundation for the BJP's defeat at the national level.

He expressed confidence that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) - an alliance of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT) - will win 42 out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

The Congress leader also hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government, describing it as "dictatorial, anti-farmers and ruthless", and alleged that it was treating farmers as its enemies.

Patole was talking to reporters after a meeting of the state Congress unit's selection board.

"The state Congress is geared up for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the issues of seat-sharing with allies, organisational preparation, issues of campaigning were discussed in the meeting of the state selection board," he said.

"Atmosphere in the country is favourable for the INDIA bloc and winds of change are blowing. There is lot of anger among people against the BJP government led by Narendra Modi as it is anti-farmers, and has failed to control inflation and unemployment. People's trust in the Congress has increased. The MVA is strong and Maharashtra will lay the foundation for the defeat of the government at the Centre," he added.

Discussions regarding seat allocation of the MVA are in the final stage, Patole said, adding that his party, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), Samajwadi Party, Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi were preparing to contest the elections together.

"It will be a direct fight between the BJP and the MVA, in which our alliance will win 42 Lok Sabha seats," he said.

"In today's meeting, all issues were discussed for nearly two-and-a-half hours," he added.

The candidates will be selected depending on the strength of the parties in the respective constituencies, the allotment of seats will be based on merit and there will be no differences of opinion, the former MP said.

Speaking on the ongoing farmers' agitation on the Delhi border, Patole alleged, "The Narendra Modi-led dictatorial government is treating farmers as enemies, terrorists, and is firing at them indiscriminately." A farmer was killed and about 12 police personnel were injured in clashes at Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border on Wednesday. The incident took place when some protesting farmers were trying to head towards barricades.

"The country's prime minister insulted the farmers in Parliament by calling them Khalistani, Naxalites, agitators. The Congress party strongly condemns the anti-farmer, ruthless Modi government," he said.

The Congress leader also said the BJP government will have to face serious consequences. PTI