Eknath Shinde Slams Uddhav Thackeray, Says 'Projects That Moved Away Didn't Know...'

Maharashtra has been seeing a tussle between the ruling Eknath Shinde-led dispensation and the opposition parties over mega projects choosing to set base in other states.

Thane: The industries that were reluctant to come to Maharashtra and shifted operations elsewhere in the recent past did so due to non-cooperation from the then state government and were unaware change was set to happen, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Monday. The Shinde government came to power in June last year following his rebellion against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, which also split the Shiv Sena. His government comprises the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Maharashtra, since then, has also been seeing a tussle between the ruling dispensation and the opposition parties over mega projects choosing to set base in other states. Notable among these were the Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor project and the Tata-Airbus military transport aircraft, both of which moved to neighbouring Gujarat.

Speaking at the concluding function of the four-day CREDAI MCHI property exhibition, Shinde said, "Some of the industries that left the state did so due to non-cooperation by the then (Maha Vikas Aghadi) government over two-and-half-years. These industries were unaware the government here was about to change."

"Now, they (opposition Thackeray faction of the Sena, Congress, NCP) are blaming us for industries moving away. Do industries move out in just two months? Our government has the full support of the Centre. We signed MoUs worth Rs 1.30 lakh crore at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos," he added.

Asserting that good roads were a prime requirement for development, Shinde quoted former US president John F Kennedy who had said "American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good".