Youth Cong protests `failure' to implement Centre's package

State Youth Congress chief Satyajit Tambe and three others who marched on the BJP office were released later. On May 12, the BJP-led Union government announced a Rs 20 lakh crore relief package to revive the economy which had been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Four members of the Maharashtra Youth Congress were detained by the police here on Friday as they were heading for the BJP office to protest `non- implementation' of the Centre's Rs 20 lakh crore package. State Youth Congress chief Satyajit Tambe and three others who marched on the BJP office were released later.

On May 12, the BJP-led Union government announced a Rs 20 lakh crore relief package to revive the economy which had been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The "astronomical figure was just window-dressing for a paltry Rs 2 lakh crore stimulus package", Tambe alleged in a release.

The Maharashtra Youth Congress' fact-finding teams reached out to the intended beneficiaries of the package, but could not find anyone who received actual help, he said. Not a single farmer or trader received the promised help, he claimed.

"The people of Maharashtra have participated wholeheartedly in our poll and their recorded testimonies express the same disillusionment across critical sectors of the economy," Tambe said. Responding to the Youth Congress' protest, the BJP said it should pressurise Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to announce a package for the poor in the state.

State BJPspokesperson Keshav Upadhye said the Central Government provided direct assistance of over Rs 28,000 crore to Maharashtra through various schemes, but the state government did not offer any help to the poor. "If the Congress really cares about people, then instead of marching on the BJP office, Congress leaders should put pressure on the chief minister and force him to announce a package for the poor," he said in a statement.

"But Congress leaders will not show that much courage. Because the chief minister will not take any serious note of you..the Congress leaders know they do not have any value in the alliance government," Upadhye said.