New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Ajit Pawar on Wednesday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde requesting him to make all efforts to ensure that the Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor plant in Gujarat be set up in Maharashtra, reported news agency PTI. In the letter, Pawar wrote that everything had been finalised for it to be in Maharashtra but was shifted to Gujarat under political pressure.
"This (MoU between Vedanta-Foxconn and Gujarat Government for the semiconductor facility) will be a blow to the economic development of Maharashtra," wrote the Shiv Sena MLA in the letter to CM Shinde, quoted by the news agency.
The Shiv Sena has been blaming the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government for slipping away the opportunity of setting up the semiconductor plant in Maharashtra instead of Gujarat.
Shiv Sena leader and Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray also blamed the Shinde government for the same. He said that although he is glad that the deal is in India, it is sad to see an almost finalised deal getting out from Maharashtra, reported news agency ANI.
"Although I'm glad to see this in India, I am also a little bit shocked," Thackeray said.
"For a project almost finalised, and a new dispensation claiming credit over it, only shows lack of commitment from the new dispensation for our State's progress,” said former Maharashtra Chief Minister’s son.
Thackeray said that he had himself worked on the deal and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had almost finalised it.
"Industries Minister Subhash Desai Ji, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and I myself held meetings for bringing this semiconductor project to Maharashtra. The MVA Government had brought this to the final stage. Under the MVA, our effort was to make Maharashtra, the lead state contributor to India's progress, just like other states in a healthy competition," the Shiv Sena leader said, quoted by the news agency.
The former minister also cornered the Maharashtra government and asked them to work for the people and the state.
Earlier on Tuesday, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Limited and Taiwan's Foxconn signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Gujarat government for setting up a semiconductor and display FAB manufacturing unit in the state with an investment of over Rs 1.54 lakh crores.