Vidarbha farmer in suicide note: Don't vote for Cong, NCP

A farmer who committed suicide in Yavatmal district has left behind a note in which he purportedly asked people not to vote for the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra as the ruling alliance partners don't "care" for farmers.

"Don't vote for the Congress and NCP; they don't care for farmers," 45-year-old Gajanan Ghotekar wrote in the suicide note before consuming pesticide last week at village Kothwada in the district in the Vidharba region.

 The note has put the state government in a spot but was utilised by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today to target the ruling coalition.

A case of abetting suicide should be filed against the state government, Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

The police recovered the suicide note from Ghotekar's family members and are verifying its handwriting.

Ghotekar killed himself as he could not repay a loan of over a lakh rupees, according to an official. He had bought a tractor, but could not pay for it, the official said, adding he was also under stress over raising funds for his daughter's marriage.

"They (Congress-NCP) will ruin the country," the farmer wrote in the suicide note, according to the official.