Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray retaliates to Devendra Fadnavis’s remarks, stating he didn’t stop projects during the pandemic and accuses the current CM of doing dirty work for his ‘boss’s friends.’

MUMBAI: Hitting back at Devendra Fadnavis‘s dig that “he was not Uddhav Thackeray to stall ongoing projects”, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief on Sunday alleged that unlike the CM, he did not “do dirty work for his boss’s friends”.
Uddhav also dared Fadnavis to announce a total farm loan waiver and increase the Ladki Bahin scheme payout to Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,500 to in the state budget to be presented on Monday.
Speaking at a conclave for party functionaries in Mulund, Uddhav said: “I did not let the work stop during the Corona period. I did not let the Metro work stop. I did not let the coastal road work stop. We provided Maharashtra with services and facilities that you would never have in your life, even in hospitals…I did not do the dirty work for your boss’s friends [unlike you], you are not Uddhav Thackeray …and cannot be.”
On Friday, while speaking on the motion thanking governor C P Radhakrishnan for his address to the joint session of the state legislature, Fadnavis had said, “Decisions made by the previous Mahayuti govt were not Eknath Shinde’s alone but were made in coordination. I am not Uddhav Thackeray to stay ongoing projects. They were mine and Ajit Pawar’s responsibility too.”
Uddhav said: “This battle is not a party battle…not a political battle. This is a battle for our mother tongue and the identity of Maharashtra.”
He added: “In 2012, we won Mumbai (BMC polls) with just two words, ‘Karun dahkhavla (We have done it)’. We did the same in 2017. Fadnavis should be told that the coastal road is not your achievement, it is my Shiv Sena’s achievement. I laid the foundation stone. Though you started the Sewri-Worli connector work, its first girder was laid by me as the chief minister.”
Replying to recent questions raised by BJP leaders on why he had skipped the Maha Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, Uddhav took a dig at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, saying, “We follow Bhagwat. We do what he does. If Bhagwat does not go, how can I go to Prayagraj and take a dip there?”
At the conclave, Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray accused the Mahayuti govt of favouring the Adani Group in projects like the Dharavi slum redevelopment and “systematically undermining the city’s economic prominence” by shifting major projects and the headquarters of a few companies to Gujarat and Delhi.
Aaditya also demanded facilities and incentives like Gujarat’s GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) for Mumbai.