India, Sept. 29 -- It is not unusual that deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar loses his cool. There are several videos of him giving an earful to either government officers or party colleagues. But the way he spoke during the tour of flood-affected areas this week, it was more or less clear that the ruling Mahayuti politicians are irked over demands from people and sometimes losing patience.

"Are we playing marbles here,"he retorted when a flood-affected person posed a question.

With crops on about 38 lakh hectares lost, there is demand among farmers for generous compensation. Further, with soil erosion in many flood-hit places, farmers are staring at a year or couple of years without any crops and demands for a loan waiver are growing lou...