Vedanta-Foxconn project to Gujarat: CM Eknath Shinde not serious about development, says NCP

CM Eknath Shinde. File Pic

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday wondered whether Eknath Shinde was made the chief minister of Maharashtra at the cost of losing the mega Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor project to Gujarat.

NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase asked if Shinde, a Shivsainik, was serving the interest of Maharashtra or Gujarat.

The plant was earlier supposed to be set up in Maharashtra and the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had held several rounds of discussions with Foxconn.

It seems CM Shinde was made the chief minister of Maharashtra at the cost of losing such a high investment plant to Gujarat. Is CM Shinde serving the interest of Maharashtra or serving the interest of Gujarat? asked Tapase.

A political blame game started after Vedanta-Foxconn signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government on Tuesday to set up a semiconductor and display manufacturing unit in the state.

Vedanta-Foxconn would invest Rs 1,54,000 crore to set up the facility, which would create one lakh job opportunities, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had said.

Also Read: PM Modi has assured CM Shinde of Vedanta-Foxconn like project: Uday Samant

Tapase said the erstwhile MVA government had initiated proper dialogue and discussion with Vedanta group and its counterpart Foxconn for investment and Talegaon near Pune was finalised to set up the project.

He said the MVA government- comprising Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress- had offered the best incentives to the Vedanta-Foxconn venture intending to create huge employment opportunities for the local youth.

Several MSME units looking forward to the business opportunity with the semiconductor plant are distressed as Maharashtra lost out to Gujarat.

It is a shame that the newly formed ED (Eknath and Devendra) 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 in a statement.

He said Shinde is busy justifying his rebellion to the people of Maharashtra and does not even talk of development issues like employment and industrialisation.

"Eknath Shinde owes an explanation to the people of Maharashtra," Tapase added.

The rebellion by Shinde and 39 MLAs of Shiv Sena led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in June this year.

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