Mumbai, June 26 (IANS): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday accused the opposition of spreading lies and setting fake narratives to get votes, saying the MahaYuti government is capable of countering the claims during the monsoon session of the state legislature beginning June 27.
Fadnavis was speaking at a press conference organised after the opposition boycotted the customary team meeting convened by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
"Today, the opposition boycotted the tea meeting. Their policy is to lie and go on repeating it. I think the opposition has got into the mindset of lying to get votes in elections. They should look at the mirror before levelling charges against the state government," Fadnavis said.
He also countered the opposition’s charge that the government is doing nothing to complete the long pending irrigation projects in the Vidarbha region.
"For two-and-a-half years, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government did not speed up any project in Vidarbha. The government did not give nod to the revised administrative approvals for those pending irrigation projects and now they are telling us that the irrigation projects in Vidarbha region have not taken off," he said.
"During the two-year MahaYuti rule, 87 projects have been completed. The government in 2019 released a resolution on the Wainganga-Nalganga project, but the MVA government sat on the file and nothing was done. After the MahaYuti came to power, things progressed rapidly. Now such people are asking us questions," he added.
Fadnavis also took a swipe at the opposition for targeting the MahaYuti government on the paper leak issue, saying the highest number of cases of paper leak in various exams was seen during the Uddhav Thackeray-led government's tenure.
"The state government will table a report card on the paper leaks during the MVA rule during the monsoon session," Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis also denied the opposition’s charge that the MahaYuti government did nothing to reinstate the Statutory Development Boards.
"During the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, the Statutory Development Boards’ tenure lapsed and the government did not take any initiative to reinstate them. After the new government came, it sent a proposal to the Centre for its revival. In the case of Marathwada water grid, the MVA government discontinued its implementation but the MahaYuti government has revived the project," he said.
On the opposition’s charge that investors are leaving the state, Fadnavis claimed that during MahaYuti's rule, Maharashtra has again become number one in attracting investments.
‘’During MVA's tenure, Maharashtra slipped from the number one slot as Gujarat and other states outpaced us in attracting investments," he claimed.
Fadnavis also said that the International Finance Centre had gone to Gujarat during the Congress-led government in 2012, and not during the MahaYuti's tenure.
The Deputy CM asked the opposition not to level corruption charges against the MahaYuti regime, as he reminded that a former Home Minister was jailed during MVA's tenure because of corruption charges.
On the opposition's charge of a '40 per cent commission' government, he reminded that during MVA's rule, various scams such as body bag scam, Covid scam, and Khichadi scam were reported.