KOLHAPUR, Nov 30: Branding the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance as enemy number one of the farmers, freedom fighter Nagnath Nayakwadi has said he will launch an agitation from Bindu Chowk on December 6 in the city along with the Congress.Nayakwadi recently launched a verbal attack against the saffron alliance at a meeting of directors of sugar factories from Pune, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts. The meeting discussed the burden of rising taxes on the sugar co-operatives, imposed by the alliance government in the past three years after it came to power.Citing an example of his Hutatma Kisan Ahir sugar mill at Walve in neighbouring Sangli district, Nayakwadi stated that it had to shell out Rs 67.11 lakhs in the past three years on account of a rise in sugarcane purchase tax. Similarly there was a rise in amounts deducted from the cane prises given to the farmers, excise duty on molasses and sales tax, he said.Such a burden, he said, would eventually ruin the sugarcane growing farmer in western Maharashtra since they would be forced to sell sugarcane at a lower price.Appealing all sugar co-operatives in the region to unite, Nayakwadi said that the alliance was the foremost enemy of the farmers. "Fight against the Government first, the difference between the factories and their leaders will be solved later," he said. He also advised the sugar factories to resolve their difference with cane growers.
