If Uddhav hadn’t stalled Metro 3, Ladki Bahin dole would be

MUMBAI: The early light showers on Saturday did not dampen Shiv Sena president and chief minister Eknath Shinde’s spirits as he attacked his opponent, Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, at the party’s annual Dussehra rally at Azad Maidan. He blamed Thackeray for compromising the Hindutva ideology and stalling development. Rain did not prevent party leaders and workers from turning up in full strength either.
Shinde said Mumbai’s Metro 3 project would not have been completed had he not toppled the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June 2022. He also defended his government’s decisions on the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) and alleged that attempts are being made to create hurdles for the project.
Shinde cited Hindutva and development as the two major reasons for his rebellion in 2022.
“Would the Metro 3 project have been completed if the government was not changed,” Shinde asked, continuing, “Thackeray (as chief minister) stopped the work on the project for two-and-a-half years like a stubborn child. This led to the cost escalation by ₹17,000 crore. If that money were saved, I would have allocated ₹3000 per month under the Ladki Bahin Yojana.”
Under the recently launched Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, the state government has started doling out cash of ₹1500 a month to the women coming from economically weaker sections.
“If the government had not changed then projects worth lakhs of crores would have been stopped. When the Maharashtra Virodhi Vikas Aghadi was in power, they were stopping infra projects like the Samruddhi Mahamarg, Metro 3, Bullet Train, the metro car shed, Jalyukt Shivar, Marathwada water grid and many more,” Shinde said, aiming his barbs at the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA, which was in power before Shinde engineered a split in the party.
He said after the Mahayuti government came to power, it lifted “all the speed breakers”.
“All the welfare schemes would have been stopped, new industries would not have come and the Ladki Bahin yojana would not have taken off. There would have been no justice for women and the stipend scheme for youths and Mukhyamantri Vayoshri Yojana and Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan schemes for senior citizens would not have started,” said the CM.
Incidentally, all the major schemes of the Mahayuti government were launched ahead of the forthcoming state assembly elections.
He also brought up the criticism his government has been facing for multiple land allotments in the city and DRP. He said the leaders of the opposition coalition “were deliberately creating hurdles in the biggest slum redevelopment project in the Asian subcontinent”.
“You construct bungalows after bungalows but want the people of Dharavi to remain in a sorry state,” he remarked, adding, “The then chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) had approved only eligible people under the project but Eknath Shinde directed to give houses to all 2,10,000 people from Dharavi.”
He also urged the people from Dharavi to think of their benefit and not to believe rumours, as “we are standing with the people of this slum pocket”.
Later, Shinde also said that Shiv Sena (UBT) and Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) were akin to each other, considering the fact that the Muslim community had voted for Thackeray’s candidates in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. “You tried to change the saffron colour and now see your face. It was the Congress vote bank who helped you to win (nine seats) but that was also temporary. There is no difference between AIMIM and you,” he said, aiming at Thackeray.