Mumbai: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday accused the opposition parties in Maharashtra of cheating a “negative narrative” about the Union budget. He claimed that the budget presented by the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman has substantial allocations earmarked for Maharashtra. Mr. Fadnavis said that Maharashtra will receive substantial funds for the MUTP-3, which will strengthen the local railway network in Mumbai, as well as Mumbai Metro, Nagpur Metro, Pune Metro, MMR green urban transport and schemes related to the Mula Mutha river. However, the Opposition parties alleged that Maharashtra has been given a raw deal because of Lok Sabha election results and the BJP will pay the price for it in the upcoming state Assembly election.“The Budget includes substantial allocations for Maharashtra. It is advisable for the opposition to thoroughly examine the Budget before reacting,”Fadnavis said.The Maharashtra DCM listed several budget announcements. “Maharashtra will receive Rs 908 crore under MUTP-3 which will strengthen the local railway network in Mumbai. Mumbai Metro will get Rs 1,087 crore, the Mumbai-Delhi corridor Rs 499 crore, MMR green urban transport Rs 150 crore, and Nagpur Metro Rs 683 crore. The budget includes the provisions of Rs 814 crore for Pune Metro and Rs 690 crore for schemes related to the Mula Mutha river,” he said.Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and DCM Ajit Pawar also praised the budget. However, the MVA constituents Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) alleged that the budget was not for the entire country, but it was only for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, where NDA alliance partners have governments.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray alleged that the BJP government at the Centre has a bias against Maharashtra despite the state being the largest taxpayer in the country. “I can understand the BJP wanting to save its government and giving Bihar and Andhra Pradesh a huge sum of the budget. But what is Maharashtra’s fault? That we are the largest taxpayer? What did we get against what we contributed? Was Maharashtra mentioned even once in the budget? Why does the BJP hate and insult Maharashtra so much? This isn’t the first time. Through the entire past decade of BJP’s government, we have seen this bias against Maharashtra,” he said.Congress leader and the leader of opposition in the legislative assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said the people of Maharashtra will not forgive the BJP in the assembly election. “Bihar and Andhra Pradesh received large funds because Nitish Kumar and N. Chandrababu Naidu are supporting the Modi government. Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar are also supporting the government. But what did Maharashtra get? The BJP government always mistreats Maharashtra. People of the state will remember this and give a befitting reply in the Assembly election,” Wadettiwar said.
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