Thane: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday accused the Maha Vikas Aghadi of spreading propaganda that Mumbai would be separated from the state, which he said would never happen.
His statement, at a Maharashtra Foundation Day and International Labour Day event in Kalwa here, came amid Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray’s warning at an MVA rally in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex that “we will make pieces of anyone who tries to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra”.
“No one can dare break Mumbai from Maharashtra. Those spreading such propaganda will not succeed. Whenever polls are round the corner, they (opposition) come out with statements that Mumbai will be separated from Maharashtra,” Shinde said.
“They will not succeed in getting votes with this propaganda as we are working for the development of Mumbai and its people,” he said in an apparent reference to civic polls that are due in several cites, including the metropolis, Thane, Nagpur, Nashik among others, since early 2022.
Shinde said his government had given Rs 104 crore for development works in Kalwa and Kharigaon, adding he would let his work speak rather than spend time in replying to allegations levelled against him.
Giving details of state government initiatives, Shinde said there are 317 dispensaries across the state under the ‘Aapla Dawakhana’ scheme, including 117 in Mumbai, and the target was to take this number in Maharashtra to 700 soon.
More than eight crore senior citizens and six crore women have availed fare concessions given by his government on Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus services, he said, adding the state-run undertaking would soon get 5,000 electric buses.
Poking fun at the MVA ‘vajramuth’ (iron fist) rally addressed by Thackeray and leaders of the Congress and NCP, Shinde said its organisers were struggling to gather people, whereas the well-attended event at Kalwa showed people were “ek juth (united) for the vajramuth of vikas (development)”.
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