Opposition to corner govt on farm crisis

The Congress-NCP lead opposition boycotted the customary tea party of chief minister charging that the state government had completely failed to address the agrarian crisis in the state. The leaders of the two parties alleged that there was a Rs4,000 crore scam in food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat’s decision to give back seized pigeon pea (tuar dal) stock to traders and demanded his resignation. They also criticized Shiv Sena for agitating against the government in spite of being a part of it. The opposition however, did not raise the intolerance issue in its press conference.