‘NITI Aayog plan is to loot Mumbai’

Sanjay Raut

Reacting sharply to NITI Aayog's plan to double the MMR gross domestic product in seven years on Wednesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray termed it as BJP central leadership interfering in the state's matters in the name of development. He vowed to ensure that such proposals are scrapped when the Opposition comes to power at the Centre and in the state.

Thackeray was speaking at a press conference held on the eve of a two-day I.N.D.I.A. Front Conclave in the city.

"People should have known by now why my government was pulled down. When we were in power in the state, they didn't dare bring us such a proposal. We will break all such things when we come to power in the Centre and in the state. They began with Delhi. The country's federalism is in danger with increasing interference from the Centre. We will reverse all decisions that they have taken," he said.

Uddhav Thackeray was speaking at the press conference organised on the eve of the two-day I.N.D.I.A. Front Conclave. Pic/Shadab Khan

Earlier in the day, Thackeray's party colleague Sanjay Raut said the Thackeray-led government was unseated because the BJP's top leadership Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah wanted to make the state government and the civic body their slaves.

"It is their long-cherished dream of controlling Mumbai. They weakened it first, and took important offices to Gujarat. They want the Marathi manoos to be bankrupt. They want Mumbai to be a Union territory and break it from Maharashtra. They want to sell and loot Mumbai," Raut alleged on Wednesday.

Raut said since the Thackeray Sena would not have approved of any such plan by NITI Aayog or any central leader, the BJP split the Shiv Sena to remove the MVA government.

"Balasaheb Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena to protect Mumbai and Marathi manoos. The present chief minister, Eknath Shinde, is a weak man who has knelt before the BJP leadership. If he has guts, he should quit and seek answers from the BJP," he said.

In a presentation to the state government on Tuesday, the Central government's premier policy think tank NITI Aayog explained that in addition to infrastructure development, it was important for the MMR to be financially stronger than ever to sustain the population growth.

It gave a target of pushing the current GDP of 140 billion dollars to 300 billion dollars by 2030 through an additional investment of 150 billion dollars. NITI Aayog is expected to present a preliminary master plan in four months. A dedicated team of bureaucrats are to coordinate with it.

$140BN
Current GDP of MMR