Gadkari demands Valse-Patil's resignation on power issue

Mumbai, Apr 16 (UNI) Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari today demanded the resignation of Maharashtra Energy Minister Dilip Valse-Patil, saying he should resign in the backdrop of severe power crisis that the state was facing.

Initiating a discussion on the power crisis in the state, Mr Gadkari said in the last seven years, the state could not start any new power generation project and always kept on blaming the Shiv Sena-BJP government, which ruled the state from 1995-99.

He said the power crisis was affecting the farm sector, as the farmers were committing suicide due to lack of power to their agriculture pumps.

Mr Gadkari alleged that the Minister had virtually played with the life of two generation of students as they could not study for their examinations due to nearly 16-hours of load shedding.

''The 7,000 megawatt shortfall is going to increase and already Maharashtra, a leading state in the country, has slipped to sixth position,'' he warned.

Ridiculing Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Mr Gadkari said wherever Mr Pawar went the people there faced many problems.

The BJP leader said Mr Pawar also heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), but recently the Indian cricket team had suffered a humiliating defeat in the ongoing World Cup in the Caribbean. On the other hand, debt-ridden farmers are committing suicide even though a person like Mr Pawar is the Agriculture minister.

UNI