- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
It seems Gujarat’s clinching the Vedanta-Foxconn project has fuelled a major political battle in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra where the political situation has remained volatile ever since the government led by Uddhav Thackeray crumbled and a splinter Shiv Sena group led by current chief minister Eknath Shinde came to power with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Former state cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Uddhav, on Wednesday (21) lashed out at the current dispensation saying Maharashtra lost one lakh (0.1 million) jobs besides bulk drug park’s 70,000 employment opportunities by missing the Vedanta-Foxconn bus.
According to a report by Asian News International, Thackeray, 32, said, “To see such ad for job placement of available skill, in another state, is of great pain to people from all over India who come to Maharashtra for jobs.”
“We’re hearing news of now dispensation waking up to take a call on pending industry proposals to MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) India kept on “stay” with a change in govt. How are we to expect investment under a govt that doesn’t bother about jobs & investment opportunities?” he further asked.
Maharashtra is India’s richest state.
Over the weekend, Thackeray lashed out at Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over his “Gujarat is no Pakistan” remark amid the row over the shifting of the Vedanta-Foxconn project to the neighbouring state.
He asked Fadnavis, who belongs to prime minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, whether Maharashtra was Pakistan to take away the project.
“Is Maharashtra Pakistan that you drove the project to Gujarat? What mistake has the youth of Maharashtra done?” Thackeray asked.
Fadnavis, a former chief minister of Maharashtra, had said on Friday (16) that Gujarat was no Pakistan and rather Maharashtra’s brother and there was a healthy competition between them.
“Gujarat is no Pakistan. It is our brother. This is a healthy competition. We want to get ahead of Karnataka, and everyone. The Opposition’s policy was to stop everything, and with such policy, Maharashtra could not beat Gujarat,” he said, taking a dig at the former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
The Shinde-Fadnavis government has been facing flak after Vedanta-Foxconn picked Gujarat over Maharashtra to set up its multi-billion semiconductor plant.
State BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Thursday (15) demanded a probe by a retired judge into the entire episode, Press Trust of India reported.
He had also taken a dig at the MVA government, saying it had offered tax concessions on foreign liquor instead of for the project that went to Gujarat, and had it followed the right policy, the project would have remained in Maharashtra.
