A day before Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to Mumbai to attract business and Bollywood to his state, his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said “no one can forcibly take away anything from Maharashtra”.
Inaugurating the Mission Engage Maharashtra campaign of Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mr. Thackeray. without naming anyone. said, “I am happy that you are taking an initiative for Magnetic Maharashtra. Maharashtra has a history and culture (different than others). Therefore no one can just come and take away from here,” he said.
Mr. Thackeray added, “We are not scared of competition. But if someone is going to come here and take away against the will and with force then it will not be possible.”
Mr. Thackeray’s statement comes a day after State unit of the Congress issued a warning over Yogi Adityanath’s visit to Mumbai and alleged that the meeting was a ploy to threaten industries here and Bollywood to shift to Uttar Pradesh. “For the last few months, central agencies are being used to threaten industrialists, and film personalities. We have all seen how NCB was used to defame Bollywood following the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. We have also seen in the past how many industries and projects were taken to Gujarat. Now this is likely to be repeated with the visit of UP Chief Minister,” said Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant.
Mr. Sawant said that knowing how Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its governments have worked in the past, it is important that the Maharashtra government, Chief Minister and Home Minister stands firmly with the industry here. “This meeting of U.P. CM is nothing but to create fear in the minds of industrialists,” he added.
After reaching Mumbai on Tuesday evening, the U.P. Chief Minister is expected to hold meetings on Wednesday with senior Bollywood producers and studio owners. He will also attend an investment meeting with top business houses of the country. He has already announced the setting up of a film city in Uttar Pradesh on the lines of Mumbai. He will also ring the bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to mark the issuing of bonds by Lucknow Municipal Corporation.
‘BJP scheming’
Senior Congress leader and Maharashtra PWD Minister Ashok Chavan meanwhile, alleged that the BJP was scheming to take away a “slice of Bollywood” to the northern State.
“When BJP was in power in Maharashtra, many industries and offices were shifted to Gujarat. Though the government changed in Maharashtra, the BJP is now readying a script to take away a slice of Bollywood in the name of the Uttar Pradesh government.
“Whatever had happened in the tenure of the BJP, we won’t let it happen again,” Mr. Chavan tweeted.
