Uddhav Thackeray says Sharad Pawar taught him how to form government with few MLAs;Promises complete farm loan waiver

NEW DELHI: NCP chief Sharad Pawar has taught him how to grow more from less as well as how to form government after getting fewer seats than one?s rival, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Wednesday.nnThackeray was addressing the annual general meeting of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute here. Pawar, who is the chairman of the institute, was also present.nnDuring his speech, Thackeray took a dig at former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has often stated that the BJP is the single largest party in the Assembly, though it lost power.nn?Sharad Pawar has taught us how to grow more from less area of land, and also how to form government with less number of MLAs,? Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, quipped.nnThe BJP and Sena fought the October 21 assembly polls in together, but their alliance collapsed after the Sena walked out and joined hands with the Congress and NCP.nnThe three parties formed an unlikely coalition government of which Pawar is considered the chief architect.nnThackeray also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.nn?I was told that this was the same venue where someone had said he came into politics holding Pawar?s finger.nn?I don?t want to say that Pawar saheb has made another mistake by bringing me into politics,? he said.nnModi had said at a function at the institute some years ago that Pawar, then agriculture minister in the UPA government, guided him a lot when Modi was Gujarat chief minister and was unfamiliar with Delhi politics.nnThackeray has also assured a complete farm loan waiver in the state.nnThackeray’s statement came a day after the Shiv Sena- led government formally approved a loan waiver scheme under which short-term crop loan up to Rs 2 lakh taken by farmers between April 1, 2015-March 31, 2019, will be written off.nnUnder the scheme, short-term restructured crop loan arrears up to September 30, 2019, will also be waived. “We have waived loans worth Rs 2 lakh (per farmer) as immediate relief to cultivators. But we will also make sure that their entire (crop) loan is waived,” Uddhav Thackeray said.nnSource: Press Trust of India