Deshmukh not ready to bear the cross again

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has made it clear that he is not going to court political misery again. He has said he will not roll back any of the populist measures announced by his predecessor SK Shinde, including free power to farmers, and has overruled warning by administrators that the state is heading for a debt trap.

On Tuesday, halfway thro-ugh a presentation by financial department officials that warned of grim times ahead, Deshmukh got up and left. The meeting was preceded by an hour-long mid-term appraisal report by state planning department officials.

An impending fiscal crunch was the theme of presentations and as the tone got grimmer, Deshmukh struggled to retain his equilibrium.

But when figures about the size of the debt burden of the state were thrown at him, he lost his temper. "Why is it that I always have to be the one taking the difficult decisions?," he asked officials.

In 1995-96, under the BJP-Shiv Sena government, the consolidated cumulative debt stock of the state government was Rs 18, 280 crore. When the Congress-NCP regime took over in 1999, Deshmukh became the chief minister and inherited a sharply risen consolidated cumulative debt stock that stood at Rs 50, 223 crore.

He had no choice but to take the hard road to reform. During his chief ministership, the government had to take the highly unpopular decision of withholding a pre-Diwali bonus to its 1.1 million plus employees, followed by a ban on fresh government recruitment and setting up of a surplus cadre cell to rationalise the workforce.

Shinde, on the contrary, announced a bouquet of "people-friendly" measures that the state government is now struggling to pay for.

However, Deshmukh is determined not to become the fall guy the second time. He told the officials before leaving the presentation that he was not willing to bear the cross every time.

"Five years back it was the same story. Now you want me to roll back the decisions taken by the Shinde government," the chief minister said.

He then refused to okay the proposal to roll back the promise of free power to 2.3 million farmers announced by Shinde as a pre-election sop that will cost the state exchequer Rs 1,200 crore for the last three quarters of the current fiscal.

The chief minister was also informed that it would be hard to buy the entire produce of cotton farmers at the announced price of Rs 2,500 a tonne, because of a bumper crop this year.

The market price being offered for cotton is much lower. Though the chief minister has not vetoed this yet, indications are this is going to be another drain on the strained resources of the state government.