Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has ridiculed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar over the latter`s criticism of the Congress-led government in Maharashtra.
"If the Congress-led government in the state is ineffective, why is the Pawar-led NCP still glued to it," Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece `Saamana` today. At a meeting of NCP on Saturday, Pawar had, in a veiled attack on chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, said there was collapse of the government`s "decision-making process".
Pawar, whose party is an ally in the ruling coalition in the state, had said that Maharashtra was losing out on big investments and industrial projects due to delays in taking major decisions. "In the last 15 years, there has not been an investment of even a single paisa in Maharashtra. The decline in industry and agriculture sector continues," Thackeray said. "The Nano project which wound up from West Bengal went to Narendra Modi`s Gujarat. Rata Tata did not feel like coming to Maharashtra. This was because of the instability, corruption and red-tapism here," the Sena chief said.
Because inaction has become the policy in Maharashtra, even Bihar has left our state behind in development, Thackeray said.
"If industrialists are moving out (of Maharashtra), why are you (NCP) still glued to power ? Don`t you have the guts to quit power," he said.
PTI