NEW DELHI, Aug 10: A delegation of all eight Lok Sabha MPs from the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised a range of issues concerning Maharashtra and their respective constituencies.
The delegation was led by NCP (SP) working president and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule. The meeting, which lasted around 15 minutes, focused on pending matters and difficulties faced by people across the state.
“We have discussed Maharashtra issues,” Sule told PTI after the meeting.
Party MP Amol Khole said the delegation presented several constituency-specific concerns, including policy-related matters, river interlinking, railway projects and agricultural issues.
He said the MPs also raised concerns over the Pune-Nashik semi-high-speed rail project, following a large protest in Pune on Sunday. Farm loan waivers were another issue discussed during the interaction.
Khole said the MPs decided to approach the prime minister directly because disruptions in Parliament since the beginning of the Monsoon session had prevented them from raising several matters on the floor of the House.
“Due to disruptions in Parliament, we were unable to raise our concerns and that is why we took them up with PM Modi,” Khole said.
He described the prime minister as receptive and said Modi listened to the concerns raised by the MPs and assured them that appropriate action would be taken.
According to sources, the delegation also brought up drought-related concerns, onion prices and pollution affecting the Chandrabhaga river. Water management and other local development matters were also discussed.
The meeting did not include any discussion on the contentious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) Amendment Bill, sources said. Sule has been critical of the proposed legislation in its current form and has called for either its withdrawal or referral to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
She had recently argued that foreign funding should not automatically be viewed with suspicion and urged the Centre to reconsider the proposed amendments.
The latest meeting came weeks after Sule and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar met Modi on July 22. During that interaction, they discussed issues concerning NEET paper leaks, farmers, water management and the education sector.
Pawar later said the prime minister had assured them of concrete measures on the concerns raised during the meeting.
The NCP (SP), which is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, has continued to raise Maharashtra-specific issues even as proceedings in Parliament have remained disrupted during the ongoing Monsoon session.