Mumbai: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde addressed a well-planned mega rally at Azad Maidan while his arch rival Uddhav Thackeray was holding his own at Shivaji Park in Dadar. As expected, Shinde attacked Thackeray over the Hindutva ideology, his government’s resoluteness, the state’s development, and the party’s identity.
Shinde On $1.5 Trillion Economy
Daring the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to not take him and his party lightly, Shinde said he won seven seats in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. He appealed to the people of Maharashtra to vote for him to make the state a $1.5 trillion economy, which he said his government has boosted in his tenure as the CM.
Shinde said that during Thackeray’s tenure, the state ranked number six in India vis-à-vis the economy and development, and claimed it was his government that turned the tide with projects like the Atal Setu, coastal road and Samruddhi Mahamarg. He said he also gave the people of the state welfare schemes like Ladki Bahin to elevate their social status.
Calling MVA “Maharashtra Virodhi Aghadi”, Shinde said he is a “fighter” and doesn’t leave the battlefield midway. “I will make you (MVA) leave the battlefield,” he declared at the well-attended rally where all cabinet ministers and party leaders were present on the dais. Prior to him, Jalgaon MLA Gulabrao Patil, Shiv Sena women cell chief Jyoti Waghmare and party leader Ramdas Kadam delivered their speeches.
Shinde Attacks MVA & Uddhav Thackeray
Shinde also said that Shiv Sainiks don’t quit their ideology, which Thackeray has done. His tempo rising against the ‘open arm’ image of Balasaheb Thackeray, he said, “Balasaheb’s slogan was ‘garv se kaho hum Hindu hain’. While we are proud of this slogan, some people are shying away from it.”
He said this is precisely why Shiv Sainiks were suffocating in the MVA and his “uprising” freed them. “It is a free rally of the free Shiv Sena,” he said.
“The truth is that we became the people’s Ladka (favourite) sarkar. We did work for our sisters, farmers, brothers, youths, and senior citizens. The Ladki Bahin scheme, free electricity and loan waiver for farmers, Vayoshri scheme and teerth yatra for senior citizens, we gave them all,” he said.
Listing out development projects and welfare schemes approved, inaugurated, and completed for the state, Shinde said, “The opposition will spread fake narratives but we will work in a positive way.
