Maharashtra ‘loses’ Vedanta, Foxconn to Gujarat: Aditya Thackeray blames Eknath Shinde government

After Vedanta Limited signed MoUs with Gujarat on September 13, Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray charged the Maharashtra government with abandoning the agreement. Even while he is happy that the deal is in India, the son of the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was “shocked” that a nearly-completed agreement was leaving Maharashtra.

"Although I'm glad to see this in India, I am also a little bit shocked," Thackeray said.

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The Shiv Sena leader said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had practically completed the agreement after his own efforts on it. He also claimed that the fact that a project was nearly completed and the new dispensation was taking credit for it only demonstrated the government’s lack of dedication to the advancement of Maharashtra.

"Industries Minister Subhash Desai Ji, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and I myself held meetings for bringing this semiconductor project to Maharashtra. The MVA Government had brought this to the final stage. Under the MVA, our effort was to make Maharashtra, the lead state contributor to India's progress, just like other states in a healthy competition," he said.

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Thackeray criticised the existing Maharashtra administration and urged them to serve the needs of the people and the state.

"The new unconstitutional dispensation had tweeted photos, claiming to have brought the deal to Maharashtra, but it seems their intent and commitment was actually to send the deal away from Maharashtra," Thackeray said.

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According to Thackeray, the existing system of government is primarily concerned with its MLAs brandishing weapons, acting like thugs, and engaging in solely shady politics. The Maharashtra MLA asserted that they must get past it and serve the state and its citizens. Additionally, he wanted the company and the industry to give India new opportunities.

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Vedanta and Foxconn have declared their intention to invest more than ₹1.54 lakh crore in Gujarat to build a plant for fabricating displays and semiconductors. According to the terms of the agreement inked on September 13, the projected facility would be built over the course of the following two years in Gujarat.

(With ANI inputs)