New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday over the farm crisis in Maharashtra.
"Due to the prevalence of Presidential Rule in the state, your urgent intervention is highly necessitated. I shall be grateful if you take immediate steps to initiate massive relief measures and ameliorate the miseries of distressed farmers," Mr Pawar wrote in his letter to PM Modi.
NCP leader Nawab Malik said that Pawar will be seeking a special relief package for Maharashtra's farmers, who have been adversely affected by unseasonal rains.
The meeting of the two leaders comes two days after Modi praised the Sharad Pawar-led party during his speech in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion of 250th Session of the Upper House, Modi said other parties, including the BJP, should learn from the NCP and Biju Janata Dal of Naveen Patnaik how to adhere to parliamentary norms.
The praise for the Pawar-led party comes at a time when the NCP and Congress are trying to keep the BJP away from power in Maharashtra, where the President's rule was imposed on November 12.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena fought the Assembly elections for the 288 member House, and they bagged 105 and 56 seats, respectively. However, the alliance came undone after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackarey demanded rotational chief ministerial post -- a request denied by the BJP.
On the other hand, the Congress and the NCP won 44 and 54 seats, respectively in the state.
Several senior leaders of Congress and NCP are also set to meet during the day to discuss the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) for Maharashtra and to forge an alliance with Shiv Sena possibly to form government in the state.
