Prahar Janshakti Party founder Bacchu Kadu, who is leading farmer protests demanding waiver in loans for farmers, claimed differences between CM Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. Kadu slammed Ajit Pawar for his call to farmers to maintain "financial discipline", mentioning that his remarks don't have any "weight" as compared to CM Fadnavis. He noted that the Chief Minister has announced waiver of loans by 2026, but it will be better if it is implemented before the deadline.
"There are differences between the Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar. The Chief Minister has announced a loan waiver to be implemented by June 2026. If it is carried out before that date, all the better... As for Ajit Pawar, his statement holds no weight compared to the Chief Minister's. He is a cabinet minister and does not have sufficient authority in this matter," Bachchu Kadu told ANI.Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has said the state government will take a final decision on the proposed farm loan waiver by June 30, 2026.
Speaking at an event organised by the Chatrapati Sugar Cooperative Factory in Baramati, Pawar said the government had honoured its manifesto promise but added that such waivers would not be repeated frequently. The state deputy Minister emphasised the need for financial discipline among farmers.Ajit Pawar's comment came after former MLA Bachchu Kadu led a massive protest for farm loan waiver and blocked a highway in Nagpur, forcing the Maharashtra government to announce the loan waiver plan and set up a committee to discuss ways to pull farmers out of a debt trap.
Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that farmers' loans in the state would be waived by June 30, 2026, based on a report to be submitted by a committee formed by the government.CM Fadnavis stated that his government is taking this step in accordance with the promise made in the poll manifesto during the previous election. "Our Maharashtra government stated in its manifesto that it would waive farmers' loans.
We have made a decision on this today. We have formed a committee to prepare a report on how to waive loans and the criteria for doing so. It will review this and submit the report to us by April 1st. After that, within three months, that is before June 30th, we will waive farmers' loans based on that report," the Chief Minister told reporters on Thursday.