Maharashtra Cong seeks enhanced SAP on sugar

NEW DELHI: Worried over a possible backlash from sugarcane farmers in the assembly elections, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee has demanded a substantial hike in sugarcane prices for farmers by announcing a state advised price (SAP).

The sugarcane farmer is an important constituency, one that has expressed disenchantment with the Congress-NCP combine in the Lok Sabha election. The state���s sugarcane belt ��� Marathwada and western Maharashtra ��� accounts for 72 of the total of 288 assembly seats.

The party had suggested that SAP should be Rs 2000 per tonne, excluding the cost of harvesting and transport. ���SAP of Rs 2,000 should be given to farmers on delivery as a first instalment and then an additional amount depending on the market situation,��� MPCC spokesperson and senior party leader Kanhaiyalal Gidwani said.

MPCC is of the view that an advisory to the mills offering the farmers a price that is about 40% higher than SMP would go a long way to win over this significant electorate. Surveys conducted by the ruling combine reveal that the Congress-NCP alliance is in a disadvantaged position in both western Maharashtra and Marathwada.

The Congress-NCP combine needs to reach out to the sugarcane belt to convincingly secure another term at the helm of affairs. Senior party leaders suggested that the Congress-NCP reversal in the sugar belt, especially in the Kolhapur belt, in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections was a result of the feeling that ���Pawar had not looked after the sugarcane farmer���.

Western Maharashtra has traditionally been a NCP stronghold. However, in the Lok Sabha election the NCP suffered a setback in this region���party chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule were the only wins.

The region accounts for six parliamentary constituencies. Marathwada, which accounts for 42 assembly segments is not a stronghold for the Congress. Given this situation, the MPCC is of the view that the state government has to take extraordinary measures to woo back the electorate.