Huge new investments in offing for state; Sena not a private limited company: Shinde

He, however, said that the doors of Maharashtra were still open if Foxconn wished to come to the state. Shinde said major new investments will come to Maharashtra, adding talks were already on for some projects. “Even though this project has gone to Gujarat, there will be huge new investments in Maharashtra. I held discussions with both the top leaders at the Centre (Modi and Shah) when the Foxconn project went to Gujarat,” said Shinde, adding they have promised to give all possible help to the state.

Taking a dig at the Thackeray family, Shinde said that Shiv Sena is not a private limited company belonging to certain people, adding that he wanted the party to grow.

Speaking at the event, Shinde claimed that he chose the path of rebellion to expand the Shiv Sena that was founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray. Accusing the Sena’s current leadership, helmed by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, of ignoring the sentiments of the common Shiv Sainiks, Shinde said, “Thousands of Shiv Sainiks have made sacrifices for the growth of Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sainiks fought on the streets, faced police cases but they did not back out. From leaders to the common workers, everyone had only wished that the party should grow. Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray would pay attention to the issues of all the workers. But the existing leadership is ignoring the sentiments of ordinary Shiv Sainiks as well as the MLAs.”

Stating that it was not enough to “just sit at home and do some limited work,” Shinde said, “Sena is not a private limited company of certain people. We chose this path (of rebellion) to expand Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena.”

He said that several people, including Shinde himself, had requested Sena president Thackeray to form the government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Uddhav Thackeray was also willing. But he wanted to remain the chief minister for continuous five years of time and he wanted me to discuss this with the BJP,” he said.

Emphasising that the alliance with the BJP was a “natural” one and that the citizens as well as Shiv Sainiks were happy with it, Shinde said the common Sainiks had been restless ever since the party tied up with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress – the two parties Bal Thackeray always opposed. Shinde said this was the reason that he along with other MLAs distanced themselves from Thackeray led Shiv Sena, adding the current Sena was not how it was intended by party founder Bal Thackeray.

Shinde said the idea of leaving the Shiv Sena was unthinkable to him. “I have been active in Shiv Sena since the age of 17 and sacrificed (a lot) to expand it. I could not pay attention to my family. My only aim was that the Shiv Sena should grow and I spent my whole life for the party. At such a time, I cannot even think of leaving the party. Such thoughts will never occur in my mind. (But) the Shiv Sena which was founded by Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray with an intention was no more. The party legislators were suffering. Ordinary Shiv Sainiks were restless. That is why, I decided to form an alliance with the BJP,” he said.

Shinde said the claims of the previous Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government that a large amount of investment had been made in the state in the last two-and-a-half years were misleading and a lie. “The MVA’s claim that employment has increased in the state by lakhs is a lie. Although agreements have been signed during this period, unfortunately, no real investment has come. Instead of attracting industry, land sales increased during the previous government. We are taking information about it. Our government will not engage in the business of selling land. Our focus will be on increasing employment in the state by investing heavily,” he said.

Shinde said that while residents were not opposing the Nanar oil refinery project in Ratnagiri district and Wadhawan port project, a few politicians were inciting people for their own politics. “Both these projects will be brought after understanding the issues of the people and clarifying their misconceptions about them. These decisions will be taken as per the wishes of the people,” he said.

On criticism that the current dispensation was putting decisions taken by the MVA government on hold, he said that the previous alliance government too had done the same with the decisions taken during the earlier Fadnavis-led government. Shinde, though, clarified that the government will not cancel all the decisions, adding they will be reviewed.

Shinde also announced that all roads in Mumbai will be concretised in the next two years to solve the issue of potholes.

While blaming his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray for the issue, he said that even though he (Shinde) was the urban development minister in the MVA government, he did not have all the powers. “I had no powers then. Now that I have all the powers, I have focused on making the roads in Mumbai pothole-free,” he added.

Earlier, CM Shinde was welcomed by Vaidehi Thakkar, executive publisher of Loksatta, while Anant Goenka, executive director of The Indian Express, presented the CM with a drawing. Girish Kuber, Editor of Loksatta, elaborated on the objective behind the Loksamvad event.