Fadnavis should answer if he is leader of Maharashtra or Gujarat: Congress amid Vedanta-Foxconn plant row

New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday (September 20, 2022) continued its attack on the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra over the shifting of a mega Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor project from the state to Gujarat. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said that the Rs 1.54 lakh crore plant has been handed over to Gujarat "ignoring" the economic interest of the state where it was originally planned.

"Don't contribute to the development of Gujarat by weakening Maharashtra," he said. 

"(Deputy Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis should answer if he is the leader of Maharashtra or Gujarat," Patole asked as he targeted the BJP leader for his statement "Gujarat is not Pakistan, it is our younger brother".

The Congress legislator also accused the Shinde-led government of "misleading" people on the Vedanta-Foxconn issue 

"The government seems to be supporting the transfer of the project from Maharashtra to Gujarat. If there is an investment in Gujarat, no one is against it, but this project from Maharashtra has been handed over to Gujarat. We will not tolerate if attempts are made to weaken Maharashtra and development of Gujarat is encouraged," he said.

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Patole added that the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, of which the Congress was one of the three constituents, had offered a slew of incentives for setting up the semiconductor project in Maharashtra. 

"For this project, the MVA government had given a big package of concessions in many respects including electricity bill, water, land. Maharashtra is the first choice of industries for investment," he said. 

A blame game has started in Maharashtra following the announcement last week that a joint venture semiconductor project of Indian conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, proposed to be set up near Pune city earlier, will come up in Gujarat.

(With agency inputs)