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Fadnavis takes a dig at Uddhav, says Marathwada outreach a ‘welcome change’

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said that Uddhav Thackeray’s decision to embark on a four-day tour of flood-hit Marathwada was driven by the upcoming local body polls.

3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Nov 6, 2025 02:04 PM IST

Addressing a press conference at his residence in Mumbai, Thackeray said Shelar has “shown courage” by acknowledging that there were irregularities in the state’s electoral rolls and proving that the Opposition’s allegations were correct. (Express Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Taking a dig at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who has been criticised in the past for not stepping out of his home, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday that it was a “welcome change” to see him touring the flood-hit Marathwada region.

“Even when Uddhav Thackeray was chief minister of Maharashtra, he never stepped outside his home. He worked from home. Everybody knows he rarely steps out,” Fadnavis said, speaking to the media at Nagpur airport. “Uddhav Thackeray touring Marathwada is a change, and we welcome it,” he added.

Fadnavis said that Thackeray’s decision to embark on a four-day tour of the flood-hit region was driven by the upcoming local body polls in the state. “It shows Thackeray has realised that you have to reach out to people,” he added.

Thackeray had criticised the BJP-led Mahayuti government for setting June 30, 2026, as the deadline to decide on a farm loan waiver, calling it “unacceptable” and insensitive towards the flood-hit farmers.

Fadnavis claimed that Thackeray was not getting “any response” during his tour. “Farmers have turned their backs as they know that his visit is poll-driven,” he added.

Reiterating the government’s commitment to the farmers, Fadnavis said, “We have already announced and started implementing a Rs 31,628 crore package for flood-hit farmers in the state. While some farmers are yet to receive the package, it is being expeditiously disbursed to provide financial help.”

The unprecedented floods in the drought-hit Marathwada region have devastated farmers, Fadnavis said, adding that apart from the loss of standing crops in the kharif season, soil erosion has emerged as a serious concern. Accordingly, the state government has made sizable provisions for farmers to tackle the problem, he said.

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Earlier, at a cabinet meeting, several ministers had raised concerns over the delay in implementing the compensation package for the farmers. Following complaints, Fadnavis had directed district authorities to prioritise the disbursal of funds to farmers and ensure it directly reaches their bank accounts.

Fadnavis also said that the government was “positively considering” Thackeray’s demand for a complete loan waiver for farmers. “We have constituted a committee headed by Pravin Pardeshi to study and prepare a report before June 2026,” he added.

In his first term as CM, the Fadnavis-led government had given a loan waiver of Rs 34,000 crore to farmers in 2017, which benefitted 89 lakh farmers.

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