Congress and allies get heartburn as Gujarat CM promotes the State in Mumbai

Mumbai: The Gujarat government held a roadshow in Mumbai on Wednesday to promote the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024. However, the roadshow did not sit well with the Congress and its allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The MVA parties criticized the BJP-Shiv Sena government of Maharashtra, alleging that they are promoting other states and driving the business away from Maharashtra to Gujarat.

The President of Maharashtra Congress, Nana Patole, stated, “We are Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s people, Shivaji Maharaj looted Surat for Swarajya but today’s rulers are looting Maharashtra and giving it to Surat. They have publicly admitted that the people in the Maharashtra government are under the influence of Gujarat.”

The Maharashtra government faced criticism from other opposition parties, including Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Sharad Pawar, due to the visit of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to Mumbai.

The son of Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, Aaditya Thackeray, took to Twitter to say, “The CM of Gujarat is in Mumbai for meetings to attract industries to Gujarat during Vibrant Gujarat and for investment. Instead of making all these efforts, he could have simply called the unauthorized CM of the previous BJP regime and asked them to transfer more industries from Maharashtra to Gujarat.”

“The BJP regime has already relocated industries and investments like Vedanta Foxconn, Airbus Tata, Bulk Drugs Park, and many more to Gujarat (originally intended for Maharashtra). While CMs from other states regularly come to Mumbai for such roadshows, the unauthorized CM only goes to Delhi for his own personal reasons. The only trip he showcased as an investment was Davos, where they spent almost 40 crores of money in 28 hours,” he added.

Rajya Sabha member from Shiv Sena, Priyanka Chaturvedi, also used Twitter to express a similar sentiment to Aaditya’s. She wrote, “I don’t understand why the CM of Gujarat went to the trouble of coming to Mumbai for a Vibrant Gujarat event when the unauthorized Maharashtra CM and his two deputies are already facilitating the transfer of industries from Maharashtra to Gujarat.”

Mahesh Tapase, the chief spokesperson of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, accused the Shinde government of remaining silent as Gujarat made renewed attempts to divert businesses away from Maharashtra. In a statement, Tapase questioned why the state’s leadership, including Chief Minister Shinde and his deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, had not launched a “Magnetic Maharashtra” campaign in Gujarat to attract investments.” He also inquired whether this hesitation stemmed from concerns that the BJP’s central leadership might pose a threat to their current political positions.

National spokesperson of NCP, Clyde Crasto on twitter wrote, “When will the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Eknath Shinde, along with Deputy Chief Ministers Mr. Devendra Fadnavis and Mr. Ajit Pawar, organize a Vibrant Maharashtra Summit in Gujarat? If the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Bhupendra Patel, can come here for business, why can’t they go there, or does BJP only want Gujarat’s prosperity?”

The Gujarat Chief Minister was in Mumbai on Wednesday, where he held a roadshow to promote the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, scheduled for January 2024. The Chief Minister also held one-on-one meetings with top business leaders there. DeshGujarat