Davos or Modi visit? As Shinde, Fadnavis choose latter ahead of BMC polls, Opp gets new ammo

Both Shinde and Fadnavis were scheduled to travel on January 15 to Davos to participate in the WEF and invite investment to the state. However, after the announcement of Modi’s visit to the city, which coincided with their Davos tour, Fadnavis chose to cancel his trip altogether to oversee preparations for the PM’s visit, while Shinde curtailed his trip and will now return to the city a day prior to Modi’s arrival.

In the wake of furore over projects going to other states especially in Gujarat after the formation of the Shinde-Fadnavis government, the Opposition has been alleging that the state government is being used by the Centre to take away investments and jobs from the state. For Shinde and Fadnavis, the visit to Davos was crucial in creating a mark in the state by bringing in big investment to dispel the narrative pushed by the Opposition MVA, political analysts feels.

Instead, skipping Davos has given yet another opportunity to the Opposition to corner the government by claiming that they focus only on politics and winning elections, instead of bringing investment to the state.

Slamming the government, Uddhav Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the BJP-led alliance is not serious about bringing investment to the state, and is instead more interest in playing politics and winning the BMC elections anyhow.

“The Maharashtra government is not serious about investment. Heads of all the states of the country are going to Davos to invite investors. The Gujarat CM will also go there. But the CM and Dy CM of Maharashtra feel that the PM’s visit for the BMC elections is more important. The PM should be welcomed whenever he goes. Our prime minister is good. Had he been requested, he would have slotted a different date for the visit. The PM can visit the state on any date, but the WEF in Davos get rescheduled,” Raut said. He added, “Whether it’s Shinde or Fadnavis, they seem to have only one policy, politics first. The state always comes second. Maharashtra is going down in terms of investment. It should be taken care of. The Prime Minister will keep coming and going. But there is only one agenda of this visit which is to win the forthcoming BMC elections and defeating us, the Shiv Sena.”

Modi is set to launch a number of big-ticket infrastructure projects during his Mumbai visit. This will be his first visit to Mumbai after the Shinde-Fadnavis government took over reins in the state. It is widely believed that the real reason behind the visit is to kick-start the campaign for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Balsahebanchi Shiv Sena, led by Shinde.

The BMC, a richest civic body in the country, had been ruled by the Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena for over 25 years. For a long time, the BJP has been eying it.

Even though the government has announced that it will sign MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) worth Rs 1.4 lakh crore with 20 industries — making it the highest such investment deal ever — the Opposition is not convinced, and has intensified its attack.

Nationalist Congress Party leader and spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said Shinde should announce in advance how much investment is going to come and ensure that the promised investment is realised.
“Since the Shinde-Fadnavis government has come to power, Maharashtra has lost big investment projects to neighbouring states. The investor sentiment in Maharashtra has been down since the formation of this government. Now that the Dy CM has opted out, and only CM Shinde will be going to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum, the CM should declare beforehand how much investment he will be bringing in for the state and how many jobs will be created. The government should work hard on winning investments by creating a environment of trust amongst the business community,” Tapase said.

The ruling BJP and Shinde Sena downplayed the criticism, saying the Opposition is criticising just for the sake of criticism and to spread a false narrative. “The CM and the Dy CM were going to Davos to sign agreements for the benefit of Maharashtra, so they will do it. Sanjay Raut will fall flat on his face when he sees the kind of investment they bring back to the country. Serving Mumbaikars is also a priority and the government is doing the work on both fronts. Sanjay Raut is doing nothing but just criticising for the sake of criticising, since he has no work left,” BJP leader and MLA Ashish Shelar said.

Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena spokesperson Kiran Pawaskar said, “Nothing has changed. The industries minister and his delegation have reached Davos in advance and Shinde ji is also reaching on Sunday. He will do what’s needed and return right away to Mumbai to do the work here. There is no need to criticise on everything.”