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Maharashtra Leader of Opposition and NCP leader Ajit Pawar wrote to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday alleging that the Vedanta-Foxconn project is likely to have shifted to Gujarat under “political pressure”. In his letter, Pawar asked Shinde to continue efforts to bring the project back to Maharashtra. “This is an effort to financially deprive Maharashtra,” he said.
A major controversy has erupted in the state after a joint venture of Indian mining conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn, which had held talks with Maharashtra to set up its new semiconductor plant, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government on Tuesday to locate the project there. The joint venture had reportedly “almost finalised” its Rs 1.54 lakh crore investment plant in Talegaon phase IV near Pune.
The Opposition has alleged that the Maharashtra government buckled under pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hails from Gujarat, and handed over the project, eyeing the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls. “The state government must take steps as required but ensure that the project does not go out of Maharashtra,” Ajit Pawar said.
The NCP on Wednesday also asked whether allowing the Vedanta-Foxconn project to go to Gujarat was the price Eknath Shinde paid for securing the post of Chief Minister. Shinde had led a group of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and joined hands with the BJP to topple the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition and form the current government. “Is CM Shinde serving the interest of Maharashtra or serving the interest of Gujarat?” asked Mahesh Tapase, chief spokesperson of NCP.
Tapase further said that the previous MVA government had initiated a proper dialogue with Vedanta-Foxconn for the investment in Maharashtra and had even finalised its location in Talegaon. “The MVA government had offered the best incentives to Vedanta-Foxconn with an intention of creating huge employment opportunities for the local youth. A number of small MSME units, who were looking forward to the business opportunity with Vedanta-Foxconn, are now in total disarray,” he said.
“It is a shame that the newly formed government could not retain Vedanta-Foxconn in Maharashtra. This shows the lackadaisical attitude of CM Shinde towards the development of the state as he succumbed to Gujarat at the cost of economic loss to Maharashtra and employment loss to lakhs of job aspirants,” Tapase said.
The chief minister is busy justifying his rebellion to the people of Maharashtra and does not even talk about development-based issues like employment and industrialisation, he alleged. “He owes an explanation to the people of Maharashtra,” Tapase stressed.
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