Mumbai (The Hindu): The 2017 budget session saw Chief Minsiter Devendra Fadnavis and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a united opposition for perhaps the first time.

The demand for the waiver of farm loans brought the warring Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) together, and exposed the vulnerability of the government, as it became clear that the possibility of the Shiv Sena withdrawing support was a real one. Aggressive protests from Congress and NCP MLAs while Finance Minister Sudhir Munguntiwar presented the budget segued into a prolonged Opposition boycott.

Facing the possibility of the Sena joining the Opposition and a vote on budget, the speaker suspended 19 Oppostion MLAs. While this kept the government secure, it also united the Opposition, which announced a ‘Sangharsh Yatra’ for farm loan waivers and decided not to attend the assembly. Initially taken lightly, the Yatra is possibly the beginning of a longer protest.

The boycott allowed the ruling parties free rein in the Assembly, with virtually no opposition to bills and resolutions. This was compensated for to a certain extent in the Council, where Opposition leaders Dhananjay Munde, Narayan Rane, Sunil Tatkare, Sanjay Dutt, and Jayant Patil, among others, troubled the government. “Our struggle was never to revoke suspension of MLAs, but to force the government to announce farm loan waiver,” said Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Leader of Opposition. “We remained firm on our stand and After a successful first leg of the yatra, the second stage will start in North Maharashtra from April 15.” Sources in the Congress and NCP accept that the Yatra was necessary to energise the opposition after successive defeats by the BJP.

While Mr. Fadnavis and other ministers ridiculed the Yatra’s leaders travelling in AC cars, reports from local media indicate there was a good response at ground level. Mr. Fadnavis faced additional pressure when the newly elected BJP government in Uttar Pradesh announced a farm loan waiver.

Mr Fadnavis, advocating more investment in farming, said, “Instead of discussing the issue in the assembly, the opposition ran away. We are firm on our position of making farmers loan free, but will do it at the right time. Opposition has no reply to our points and hence they boycotted the house.”

For the Sena, the legislative session signalled troubled months ahead. Its MLAs loudly expressed discontent with the party’s ministers. Demands to reshuffle ministries gained momentum, as did rumours of Sena MLAs ready to defect to the BJP. The Sena appeared clueless on how to go forward on the loan waiver issue; some of its rural MLAs said that they are scared to show their faces in their constituencies.