Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took to the stage at the India Today Conclave in Mumbai to answer questions on everything from preparations for the assembly elections to the functioning of the government he leads. CM Shinde also spoke about his vision for a new Maharashtra and took a swipe at the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena UBT. On the issue of opening CM House Varsha to everyone, he said that it belongs to the public only and is not someone’s property. Whether in ministry or in the rain, one encounters the last person to get there before leaving.
CM Shinde said people say when do you sleep and when do you eat. I tell them that this public is my energy. When explaining what CM meant, he said I don’t call him chief minister, I call him an ordinary person. The question was raised to Eknath Shinde, who said that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena representative Mahayuti had the highest strike rate. How do you abandon your colleagues? On this issue, without naming Uddhav Thackeray, CM Shinde said that we have left behind those who used to say that we are original. Their (Shiv Sena UBT) strike rate was 40% and ours was 47%.
He said we got more votes in 13 seats where Shiv Sena and UBT were facing each other. The original work of Shiv Sena has been confirmed. CM Shinde claimed that most of the votes from Shiv Sena voters came from his party. The votes UBT got were not from the Shiv Sena but from the Congress. People will prove this in the parliamentary elections as well. False narratives don’t work time and time again, he said. The people of Maharashtra have realized this and that is why we are working hard.
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CM Shinde, while attacking Uddhav Thackeray without taking his name, said the public gave the Shiv Sena and the BJP government a mandate in the elections. But out of his own selfishness, out of greed for power, he abandoned the idea of Balasaheb Thackeray and formed a government that the people did not like. He said the mandate given by the people was Mahayut but the government was formed by Aghadi. He must pay for it. Shinde said he knew we had made a mistake during the Lok Sabha elections.
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In the Lok Sabha elections, Maha Vikas Aghadi won 31 seats while Mahayuthi won only 17 seats. Asked about the matter, he said it would be rectified in the parliamentary elections. They scare people into voting, but when people ask for help, they raise their hands. Shinde claimed that people will vote for Mahayut in the assembly elections for welfare schemes and development. While listing the achievements of the government, he also said that Maharashtra today ranks first in industry, first in foreign direct investment and first in infrastructure. We went to Davos and signed an MoU worth Rs 500 crore. Companies from various industries, including semiconductors, are coming to Maharashtra.
