Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday countered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accusation that the MVA government stalled the Mumbai Metro 3 line work, saying they were not against development but wanted to save the Aarey forest.
Raut also hit back at the PM for claiming that the Congress, a partner in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), wants to contest polls from the money it gets by pushing the youth towards drugs. Modi should talk about drug busts in Gujarat, he said.
During his visit to Maharashtra on Saturday, Modi said the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government only knew to stall work. “The Mumbai Metro 3 line work was stopped due to ego and taxpayers’ money was wasted as the cost of the project escalated by Rs14,000 crore,” he said.
The MVA also put hurdles in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and Atal Setu projects and stopped water supply and irrigation schemes in the state, Modi said.
Responding to a question about Modi’s remarks, Raut said, “Sena (UBT) wanted to save the forest cover in the Aarey area of Mumbai. We never opposed to any development work.”
The MVA government had objected to the Metro-3 car shed at Aarey on the ground that it would damage the green patch.
On the allegations against Congress over drugs, the Sena (UBT) leader said, “Modi has been in power for 10 years. How can he even level such allegations against Congress? Was he sitting idle [and not taking action] for 10 years?”
The Rajya Sabha member said the more Modi campaigns in Maharashtra, the more seats BJP will lose in the assembly election.
More than Rs3.5 lakh crore worth of drugs have been seized in Gujarat, he said, adding why does the prime minister not speak about that.
