Recent visits to Mumbai by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel have sparked a war of words between the BJP and the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray on possibility of industries shifting out of the State.

State Industry Minister Subhash Desai said that no industry will shift out of Maharashtra and in fact more industries are interested to invest in the State.

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Banerjee was recently in the city to hold a meeting with industrialists in Mumbai and also met State Minister Aditya Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.BJP leader Ashish Shelar said that Banerjee was here to invite Maharashtra industries to West Bengal.

On Thursday Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel with his cabinet ministers was in Mumbai to hold a roadshow for the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit scheduled from January 10-12 in Gandhinagar. He met business heads and industry leaders. Shiv Sena questioned BJP’s silence on Gujarat CM’s visit.

‘Foreign investors’

“To bring industries to Maharashtra we don’t visit other States or run away with industries in other States. We go abroad and increase our investment. We don’t believe in bringing other States’ industries to Maharashtra. Even as the economy was at a standstill Maharashtra didn’t allow its industry to stop functioning. We have signed MoUs with more than 60 countries and in the recent Dubai Expo we have signed contracts worth ₹15,000 crore” said Minister Subhash Desai in a statement. He added that Maharashtra continues to be a top preference of industries and no industrial house would shift out of the State.

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