In an envious attempt to look as an alternative of Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray is all set to tangle up the progress in a series of projects of the then BJP government including the bullet train project and the Aarey project.
The Mumbai -Ahmedabad bullet train project was a pet project of PM Narendra Modi himself while the Aarey Metro Car Shed project was connected to former CM Fadnavis.
In a move recently, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a review of the Rs 1.1 lakh crore, Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. A couple of days ago, he had stayed work on the Aarey car shed too for the underground Metro 3 line, another flagship project of the previous NDA government. He also said that his regime will come out with a white paper on the state’s finances and promised a cabinet expansion “soon”.
The desperation of inexperienced Uddhav Thackeray to be seen as a mighty leader who can take on the popularity of PM Modi is rising day by day. Well it seems like, he is too politically immature to have a vision for the people of Maharashtra.
The next target of the Uddhav’s petty ego war could be the Nanar oil refinery project which is around ₹3 lakh crore to be built in coordination with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, which is investing a huge amount of FDI on this project, on Maharashtra’s coastline. Uddhav has all the petty reasons to scrap or withhold this project.
Uddhav is trying to look as mighty as Narendra Modi, however at the same time he is also afraid of Modi as Uddhav is quite ruthless when it comes to political opponents. Modi would never let him mess with the developmental projects, he initiated. Now as Uddhav looks on to the bullet train project, he is about to make a big mistake muddling with PM Modi’s project.
The Bullet train project is undoubtedly very close to PM Modi’s heart. He has been putting great efforts to make this project a successful one. PM Modi has been day and night putting his heart and soul to modernize India. After the Bullet train in Gujarat he wanted to have bullet train in the state of Maharashtra as well for which FDI has been acquired from Japan. If by any means, the Bullet train project in Maharashtra comes to a halt, PM Modi will be deeply exasperated by that. PM Modi has very high hopes from the Bullet Train project in Maharashtra. The attempt to create hurdles for the success of the project would thus lead to a Narendra Modi vs NCP-Shiv Sena-Congress situation and the repercussions of it will be big time. The Maha Shiv Aghadi has started a battle that it is not going to win. Said in other words, it will be fighting a lost battle in the state. Maharashtra has much love and respect for the BJP and this was proved in the Assembly elections as well. The Bullet train project also comes as big development in the state and thus, the people of Maharashtra will support PM Modi for the same. This will not sit down well with PM Modi and is going to become more personal than ever.
Uddhav has made the fight too personal and trivial only to make PM Modi upset about it. He has shown that he is just another leader with petty ego and no respect for others hard work. This kind of decisions would make sure in the future that he always stays in opposition against the people who have the strength to deliver rather than scrapping and withhold the projects.
BJP on the other hand is in no hurry to attack the newly constituted government however the party would leave no stone unturned in order to make the roads difficult for Uddhav. It would be a pleasant sight for all the people who have been upset with Sena’s new left liberal ideology.
Notably, the bullet train is estimated to cost around Rs 1.1 lakh crore, 81% of which is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency through a 50-year loan at an interest rate of 0.1%. The National High Speed Rail Corporation had been set up to execute the project, for which Maharashtra and Gujarat will each contribute Rs 5,000 crore as equity while the Centre’s share is Rs 10,000 crore. Maharashtra government’s calling for the review of the bullet train project hurts the ongoing project and this harms country’s reputation as credible investment destination.
