In a strong rebuttal to a charge by rival Shiv Sena and MNS that the BJP was conspiring to break up Maharashtra and separate Mumbai from the State, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday categorically ruled out that the NDA Government had any plans to either split Maharashtra or carve out Mumbai from the State.
Dismissing as a lie an allegation made by the Sena and other rival political parties that the BJP was contemplating a division of Maharashtra, Modi said at a rally at Dhule: “They say that Maharashtra will be split. The person who can divide the land of Shivaji is yet to be born in this country. I assure you that as long as I am sitting in Delhi, no force on Earth can divide Maharashtra”.
Beginning his third round of election rallies from the predominantly tribal district of Dhule and later addressing rallies at neighbouring Jalgaon and Nashik in northern Maharashtra, Kamgaon and Nagpur in Vidarbha region, an aggressive Modi hit out at his political rivals, saying that the question of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra did not arise since Maharashtra was incomplete without Mumbai and vice versa.
“Our rivals are spreading another lie that the BJP is working towards separating Mumbai from Maharashtra. They are saying Mumbai will be taken away from Maharashtra. I would like to tell all these liars that Maharashtra is incomplete without Mumbai. No one can take Mumbai away from Maharashtra. India is incomplete without Mumbai or Maharashtra. If there is any State that can speed up the development process in the country that is Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is a part,” Modi said.
Modi’s categorical statement came a day after Sena president Uddhav Thackeray alleged that the BJP was “conspiring to break Maharashtra” and MNS chief Raj Thackeray accused the Prime Minister of nursing a “hidden agenda” to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra.
In another round of severe castigation of the Congress and NCP for their “misrule” in the State, Modi said: “Unlike the Congress, we are not one to make false promises....Congress leaders won so many polls on the promise of completing work on the Manmad-Indore rail line but not a single inch of track was laid.”
At his rally in Nagpur, Modi asked the people to decide in the October 15 Assembly polls whether they wanted to have a “scam-ridden Maharashtra” or a “skill-based Maharashtra.”
Alluding to the rampant suicides by farmers in eastern Maharashtra, Modi said: “Wait for October 15. As soon as the BJP Government comes to power, we will rectify the damage done to cotton and onion growers due to the faulty policies of the erstwhile Congress and NCP Government.”
Dismissing media speculation that the October 15 Assembly polls would throw up a “hung House”, Modi said that the BJP would prove the political pundits wrong once again, by winning absolute majority in the elections.
Addressing the rally at Nagpur’s famous Kasturchand Park, Modi said: “In the lok Sabha polls, all political pundits were proved wrong. They had predicted that the BJP would get 120 seats; that Modi is new and nobody knows him outside Gujarat. But the BJP alone got 282 and with allies, crossed the 300-mark. They were all proved wrong because they used old yardsticks to make predictions.”
“Even this time around, political pundits are saying there will be a hung Assembly. I want to tell them, if you have time, just look at the massive crowds at my rallies in Maharashtra and the people’s enthusiasm. This will be an unprecedented election in the history of Maharashtra and the BJP will win full majority,” Modi said.
Modi heaped praise on the leadership qualities of State BJP president Devendra Fadnavis. “Fadnavis is a gift that Nagpur has given to Maharashtra. He exposed the maximum number of scams of the Congress-NCP Government,” the Prime Minister said as he exhorted the people to free Maharashtra from corruption by showing the door to the Congress and NCP.
Fadnavis is one of the contenders for the Chief Minister’s post in the event of the BJP coming to power in Maharashtra. Slamming the Congress for the inordinate delay in the execution of the Multimodal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (Mihan) project, Modi said: “Our Government will give impetus to the project. I am of the opinion that there should be no politics on the issue of development.”
Dwelling upon the crucial issue of Centre-State relations, Modi said: “I want the spirit of Team India to define Centre-State relations. The Prime Minister of the country and Chief Ministers should work as a team and the voices from the States should be heard....I want the journey of development to be like that.”