The Maharashtra government will extend full support if the Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve took the initiative for launching Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train project, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday.
He was speaking after performing ground-breaking ceremony for the planned new building of the Aurangabad zilla parishad. Mr Danve, a BJP leader from Maharashtra, was also present.
"We are talking about the welfare of people by keeping politics aside today, and people also expect the same. We have expectations from each other," the Chief Minister said.
"I give my word to Raosaheb Danve. If he takes initiative for the Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train, the state government will stand strongly with him at every step, because this project is our dream," Mr Thackeray said.
The first bullet train project in the country will link Mumbai with Ahmedabad, he said, and added that "instead, it should come up between Mumbai and Nagpur."
The Chief Minister also visited the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC). Speaking to reporters there, he said politics should not come in the way of development.
Referring to a remark by state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil that he should not be called a "former minister" any longer as the political situation in the state might change soon, Mr Thackeray said, "I heard he is trying to enter one of the three parties in our (ruling) alliance."
On BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis's statement that the Maharashtra government should reconsider its "decision'' not to invest in railway projects in the state, the chief minister said the state had not stopped giving its share.
"The state is ready to give its share for Aurangabad-Ahmednagar, Pune-Nashik railway projects," he said.
On AURIC, the Chief Minister said the country should feel proud of such projects.
