E Shinde's "Complete Ignorance": Aaditya Thackeray On $20 Billion Deal Row

Maharashtra has lost out on lakhs of jobs "only because of the incompetence and the ignorance" of the government, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray said today, accusing Maharashtra industries minister Uday Samant of 'losing' two projects which have cost the state "most about 1.7 lakh jobs". He had earlier said that the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra had worked extremely hard to try and win the Vedanta-Foxconn project. The other project is the Bulk Drug park project which has gone to three states - Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh.

"They have to answer the people more than anyone else today," he said, slamming the Eknath Shinde-led government in the state.

Gujarat recently bagged the Rs 1.54 lakh crore venture for India's first semiconductor plant. Mining conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn have decided to jointly build the plant in Gujarat's Ahmedabad. Gujarat pipped Maharashtra in a close race to win the plant location.

"My only focus is that the complete ignorance of this new industry minister and the Chief Minister has led to Maharashtra losing on two major projects and lakhs of jobs in our state," the young Sena leader, who has been uncharacteristically aggressive after his father and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had to step down following open rebellion by 40 of his MLAs, told NDTV.  

Aditya Thackeray said the state government must focus on the ambitious project by Airbus-Tata to produce military aircraft in Maharashtra. "It has to come to Nagpur, we are hoping they could push this at least," he added.

Asked whether even earlier projects like the diamond hub project, which has been moved to Gujarat's Surat, being shifted to Gujarat has to do with the upcoming assembly elections there, he said it's for the media and the country to analyse. "As far as I can see it, today Maharashtra has lost out on lakhs of jobs only because of the incompetence and the ignorance of the government," he said.

Former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray has been travelling across the state in an attempt to build the party organisation through his outreach effort called 'Shiv Samvad Yatra'.

During the fifth leg of the Yatra which begins today from Konkan, he said it will be very tough for the rebel MLAs who have joined the government with support from the BJP to convince the people why they have walked over. "It is very easy for the people to see through their character what they have done today. They have hopped over for their personal greed and that is very evident," he said.

Calling the 40 rebels 'traitors', Mr Thackeray asserted people of the state know they crossed over for personal ambitions and greed. "It's monstrous," he said, adding that people he met are also telling him that their only mistake was trusting these "gaddars" (traitors) too much.

On the rebels backtracking on their promise that they won't attack the Thackeray family, he said "their masks are coming off, nothing else".

"This government is unconstitutional. They should at least have the guts to resign and face elections. I have said let 40 of them resign and face elections as MLAs, I will also stand for reelection. Let's contest again, let the state decide who's right who's wrong," he said.

Aaditya Thackeray called the rebels "terrible mimics" for reportedly building a parallel Shivsena Bhavan in Dadar. "They are trying to mimic everything we have done, but they don't have any identity of their own. They know that their mask is off, and therefore they want to go to people as mimics now," he added.