New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday hit out at the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) saying that the opposition tripartite is going through ‘teen tigada kaam bigada’ (a work is spoiled when three people are involved in it). CM Shinde said that there is competition within Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress (which comprise the MVA) to become a chief minister.
Eknath Shinde’s remarks came a day after NCP leader Jayant Patil said that nearly everyone had accepted that the next chief Minister of Maharashtra would be from his party. Patil’s statement came days after posters of NCP leader and current Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Ajit Pawar, projecting him as the next CM of Maharashtra, were put up in several districts of the state, triggering a spark among the MVA allies.
At a Maharashtra Foundation Day and International Labour Day event in Thane on Monday, Eknath Shinde also accused the Maha Vikas Aghadi of spreading propaganda that Mumbai would be separated from the state, which he said would never happen.
His remarks came amid Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray’s warning at an MVA rally in Mumbai that ‘we will make pieces of anyone who tries to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra’.
“No one can dare break Mumbai from Maharashtra. Those spreading such propaganda will not succeed. Whenever polls are round the corner, they (opposition) come out with statements that Mumbai will be separated from Maharashtra,” Shinde said.
He added that they will not succeed in getting votes with this propaganda as ‘we are working for the development of Mumbai and its people’.
Shinde said his government had given Rs 104 crore for development works in Kalwa and Kharigaon, adding he would let his work speak rather than spend time in replying to allegations leveled against him.
When the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections are near, there are rumors that there is a plot to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra, but in reality, nobody can separate Mumbai from Maharashtra. Also, because the speed of work of the grand coalition government is not tolerated, the opponents have stomach ache… pic.twitter.com/nobcHQNSWb— Eknath Shinde – Eknath Shinde (@mieknathshinde) May 1, 2023
Giving details of state government initiatives, he said there are 317 dispensaries across the state under the ‘Aapla Dawakhana’ scheme, including 117 in Mumbai, and the target was to take this number in Maharashtra to 700 soon.
More than eight crore senior citizens and six crore women have availed fare concessions given by his government on Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus services, he said, adding the state-run undertaking would soon get 5,000 electric buses.
Poking fun at the MVA ‘vajramuth’ (iron fist) rally addressed by Thackeray and leaders of the Congress and NCP, Shinde said its organisers were struggling to gather people, whereas the well-attended event at Kalwa showed people were “ek juth (united) for the vajramuth of vikas (development)”.