'PM, BJP spreading misinformation, industries leaving Maharashtra'

Karnataka minister and senior Congress leader Priyank Kharge on Friday accused Prime Minister PM Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP of spreading misinformation and showing little interest in developmentAccording to news agency PTI Kharge who serves as the southern states Information Technology IT minister said the factory of misinformation began under Modirsquos tenure as chief minister of Gujarat when he was dreaming of becoming PMThe job of this factory is to spread misinformation disinformation fake news and give birth to lies When he was CM it was just a factory By the time he became PM the factory was elevated to a fullfledged industry alleged Kharge the son of Congress president Mallikarjun KhargeHe further claimed that Modi and BJP were not interested in the development of states particularly Maharashtra Earlier Karnatakarsquos competition was with Maharashtra Tamil Nadu and Telangana But now we do not have any competition with Maharashtra he said reiterating the Congress regular assertion that industries were moving away from the Eknath Shindeled stateAccording to PTI Kharge pointed out that Karnataka used to compete with Maharashtra for investments in the IT and biotechnology sectors but now the western state was no longer in the racePune and Bengaluru were twin cities What happened How come Bengaluru has gone ahead The reason is that the PM is secretly moving projects from Maharashtra to Gujarat I am not saying this The Congress is not saying this This is from the Government of Indiarsquos data he claimedIf people want a puppet govt then they can vote for the Mahayuti KhargeHe cited the Tata Airbus project which was initially supposed to be set up in Maharashtra but was eventually moved to Gujarat We also tried When I insisted for Karnataka I was told the project is going to Maharashtra because it had the conducive ecosystem for the project A project worth Rs 22000 crore how did it go to Vadodara in Gujarat Kharge askedHe questioned how the project ended up in Gujarat when Mumbai is the financial capital Pune is the skill capital and Maharashtra has a large pool of talentKharge also referenced the VedantaFoxconn semiconductor project which was initially planned for Pune but was later shifted to Gujarat as well as a medical device park that followed the same pathMy appeal to the people of Maharashtra is to vote for the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Congress If it goes to Mahayuti then there will be an Adani government here he claimed adding that NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had spoken about the billionaire industrialist being involved in efforts to bring down the MVA governmentIf people want a puppet government under which projects will leave the state and go to Gujarat then they can vote for the Mahayuti which comprises the BJP Shindes Shiv Sena and NCP said the Karnataka IT ministerKharge also took a swipe at the BJPs promises saying When Modi and the BJP make promises they call it Modi ki guarantee and masterstroke but when Congress announces schemes they call it revdi freebiesThey just give catchy slogans but in reality work does not take place Kharge added in criticism of the BJPs governanceWith PTI inputs