Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) chief and farmer leader Raju Shetti on Tuesday met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s residence in Mumbai.
Although the meeting at Mr. Thackeray’s residence sparked some speculation about the SSS joining the Opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party faction), Mr. Shetti quickly dismissed allegations of any potential political alliance.
He said that his outfit was planning to contest six Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming general election independently of either the ruling ‘Mahayuti’ (Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the BJP and Ajit Pawar’s NCP) or the opposition MVA.
“I did not meet him [Mr. Thackeray] to discuss any political alliance, but to peak about agricultural matters and the plight of farmers,” he said.
Mr. Shetti, a former two-time MP from Hatkanangale in Kolhapur district, said that he met Mr. Thackeray because the Sena (UBT), too, had started a battle against the Adani Group, an industrial conglomerate which, as per Mr. Shetti, was against the best interests of the State’s farmers.
“Uddhav Thackeray’s party is fighting for the farmers. They are fighting against the Adani Group. Farmers, too, are suffering because of the Adani Group. The BJP-led Centre has reduced the import duty on food items by 5% only to favour Gautam Adani [the chairperson of Adani Group]. This has led to a massive crash in the price of soybean,” Mr. Shetti claimed.
The SSS chief added that the Centre’s policy had resulted in farmers getting the same price per ton for soybean as they were allegedly getting 24 years ago.
He also announced that he would tour the Marathwada region on the issue of soybean prices and farmers’ loan waiver from January 15 onwards.
Once an ally of the BJP, Mr. Shetti had exited the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2017.
Despite consecutively winning the 2009 and 2014 general elections, Mr. Shetti’s tie-up with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha proved disastrous, as he was perceived as dallying with the very sugar barons he had once fiercely opposed.
In 2022, he severed ties with the MVA coalition, vowing to rebuild his base in Maharashtra’s sugar heartland by aggressively focusing on farmer issues.
