New Delhi: The Congress on Monday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, accusing them of a ‘wholesale surrender’ of Maharashtra’s interests by allegedly directing the Tata-Airbus C-295 aircraft facility to Gujarat’s Vadodara.
The Congress has claimed that the C-295 aircraft facility was originally intended to be set up in Nagpur but has now been inaugurated in Vadodara.
Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said that the people of Maharashtra would deliver a strong response to the Prime Minister and his colleagues for what he described as a betrayal of the state.
Ramesh’s criticism followed the inauguration of the Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL)-Airbus facility for manufacturing C-295 military aircraft in India, a collaboration officiated by Prime Minister Modi and his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.
He said that “one can only imagine the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres” that led to Maharashtra missing out on this significant investment.
“This is not an exception. Under the non-biological PM’s leadership and instruction, the Union Government and the Mahayuti government have conspired to ensure the wholesale surrender of Maharashtra’s interests in landing new projects or seeking Central support,” Jairam Ramesh added.
Citing past examples, the Congress leader highlighted that an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) has been established solely in Gujarat’s GIFT City.
“Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2006 had begun the effort to set it up in Mumbai. Land in Bandra Kurla Complex had already been set aside for the IFSC. But that was sabotaged costing Mumbai potentially 2 lakh jobs,” he alleged.
“Mumbai and Surat have worked together to develop India’s diamond industry for decades, with Surat handling cutting and polishing, and Mumbai handling trading and export. However, a new Bharat Diamond Bourse was built in Surat. It is another matter that this move has failed entirely, with many diamond merchants moving their operations back to Mumbai,” said Ramesh
He added that alongside the Tata-Airbus manufacturing plant, the “now-failed Vedanta-Foxconn” semiconductor chip factory was also redirected from Maharashtra to Gujarat.
The Textile Commissionerate Office, which had been based in Mumbai for 80 years, was abruptly relocated to Delhi last year for no apparent reason, despite the fact that the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) remains a major hub for textiles, he said.
Ramesh said that the Congress and the Maha Vikas Aghadi do not engage in favoritism.
