Eknath Shinde govt was formed for serving Gujarat instead of Maharashtra: Jayant Patil

Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil. File Pic

Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil on Thursday slammed the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government over the loss of big industrial projects, accusing it of "serving Gujarat".

Speaking at a protest organized by the NCP to demand resumption of police recruitment, he also said that a group like Tata choosing another state for its project was an embarrassment for the government.

"Projects are being shifted to Gujarat and the chief minister and deputy chief minister are mute spectators. Had the Vendanta-Foxconn project come to the state, it would have generated three to four lakh jobs directly or indirectly," Patil said.

After Vendata-Foxconn, Tata consortium and Airbus' military aircraft project too went to Gujarat, said the former state finance minister.

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"Conspiracy was hatched to bring a new government in the state so that the (new) government would serve Gujarat more than Maharashtra," the NCP leader further claimed.

The Shinde-led government came to power after the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed in June this year.

Patil also accused the state government of creating hurdles in the implementation of decisions taken by the MVA government.

"We had taken the decision of police recruitment and the present government needs to only implement it, but they are creating hurdles," he alleged.

On a state government advertisement appearing on the front page of Saamana, the mouthpiece of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Patil said no newspaper would refuse an advertisement.

One should also read what the newspaper has published inside, he quipped.

About the Shinde government restoring the general consent for CBI to probe cases in the state (which the MVA had withdrawn), Patil said state police are capable of probing any matter.

"It shows the government does not have confidence in the Maharashtra police," he added.

On deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis's accusation that there is an attempt to create a false narrative over projects 'going out' of Maharashtra, Patil said the state government did not try to speak to Vedanta chairman Anil Agrawal and bring the semiconductor project back.

"If a group like Tata is going out of Maharashtra, it is a big embarrassment for this government," he added.

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