After the state energy minister Nitin Raut expressed inability to offer any waiver for "inflated" electricity bills, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a protest a state-wide protest against the Maha Aghadi Vikas (MVA) government.
In Mumbai, BJP's Atul Bhatkalkar, Yogesh Sagar and Mihir Kotecha organised protests, where Bhatkalkar said that if the government doesn’t offer relief, he will take a morcha to Mantralaya. The BJP workers also threatened to burn the electricity bills as a part of protest.
Later, the Mumbai Police moved to detain Bhatkalkar after which a brief scuffle broke out between BJP party workers and the Mumbai Police.
Responding to Bhatkalkar’s statement, Nitin Raut said that if the bills were found to be genuine, the BJP should pay them.
As part of the BJP's statewide protest against the government's decision, Bawankule along with other party workers burnt electricity bills on Monday, November 23, near his residence at Mahadula in Koradi area of Nagpur.
Last week, Bawankule had demanded that those who consume up to 300 units of electricity daily should get waiver from bill payment for the March to June period. He also said that people have lost jobs (due to lockdown) and several electricity consumers have received inflated bills. The government should correct these bills, he stated.
Party state chief Chandrakant Patil organised a protest in Karad while Sudhir Mungantiwar, former finance minister organised a protest in Chandrapur. The BJP estimates a total of 2,000 protests occurred across the state.
Apart from that, even the MNS joined BJP in the protest, where they put up banners with the message ‘My Bills, My Responsibility’ across the city mocking the state government’s ‘My Family, My Responsibility’ tagline for the COVID-19 outreach programme. The party had warned the government with aggressive agitation on the issue if the relief was not given to the consumers.
Raut also last week said the state government will not be able to provide any relaxation in electricity bills. The power firms were making huge losses, and it was a "mess" inherited from the BJP government, he claimed.