Piqued over pruning of security cover for Th

“Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has taken a lead in pruning the security cover for Thackeray to settle political score. In fact, we are planning to surrender the security cover provided to all the Shiv Sena as well as BJP leaders. We are waiting for a green signal from Thackeray,” Rane said.

Rane alleged that at a juncture when there was sudden spurt in the activities of the gangsters as well as terrorists, instead of taking stringent measures, the government has deliberately pruned the security cover for Thackeray, who is the main target of international terrorists. “I feel that the decision of the government to prune the security cover for Thackeray will encourage the gangsters as well as Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence. In that event, the entire responsibility will be on Deshmukh and Bhujbal,” he said.

On the plight of the cotton growers, Rane said despite repeated promises, Deshmukh has been unable to come to the rescue of the cotton as well as onion growers. “First, Deshmukh had promised that entire payment will be made by the end of February. The deadline was extended thrice by him, but even today payment has not been made,” he alleged.

Rane reiterated that Samajwadi Party President Abu Asim Azmi had specifically stated he was least worried about further partition of India. To prove his point, Rane played the audio cassette with the speech of Azmi, which he delivered on February 22 at a rally held in the city. “From the statement of the Chief Minister, it appears that the police have misled him on the utterances of Azmi. However, now I will handover the audio cassette to the Chief Minister for appropriate action. If he has courage, he should initiate stringent action against Azmi,” Rane added.

On the other hand, the Chief Minister described as political stunt the decision of the opposition parties to boycott the tea party. “It is a political stunt. Boycotting the meeting will not resolve the dispute, instead, they should participate in the discussion,” Deshmukh said.

Deshmukh reiterated that security cover for Thackeray has not been reduced as has been alleged by Rane. “Thackeray continues with the Z-plus security cover. Only the surplus staff, has been pruned and that too very little. Even today, against the provision of 43, a record number of 158 police officials have been deployed for his security,” Deshmukh claimed.

On the payment to cotton growers, Deshmukh said entire payment will be made within a stipulated period, since the government has now sought financial assistance from the District Central Cooperative Banks. “So far, we have procured 37 lakh quintals of cotton worth Rs 3,700 crore. So far, Rs 3,200 crore has already been disbursed. For the remaining amount, we will be obtaining loans from the district central cooperative banks. The scheme is to reimburse the amount in the same district, from which loan has been taken. Government will pay interest to the bank and also it will be a guarantor for the loan,” the Chief Minister said.

Deshmukh said one must understand the financial crisis the state is facing ever since it took over from the erstwhile Sena-BJP rule. “When we took over, there was absolutely no money. Despite such a condition, we are trying our best to make the payment to the cotton growers,” Deshmukh said.

On Azmi’s cassettes in possession of former chief minister Narayan Rane, Deshmukh said he will ask the police department to take it from him and conduct an inquiry. “If there is substance in the allegation made by Rane, we will certainly take action,” he said.