“Ratan Tata wanted the project to come up in Maharashtra, and in consultation with him, a 500-acre plot in Nagpur MIDC area was marked for it,” Pawar said, addressing an election rally in Baramati organised to launch a campaign for Yugendra Pawar who is contesting against Ajit Pawar.

“This was during the Manmohan Singh-led government, of which I was a part,” Pawar said. “Our government changed and when Modi became the PM, he called Tata and told him to set up the factory in Gujarat,” Pawar said.

That project was to have generated thousands of jobs in Maharashtra, Pawar said. Thousands of jobs in Maharashtra were also lost when Modi asked Foxconn to set up the (semiconductor) factory, meant for Maharashtra, in Gujarat, the veteran politician claimed. “The Prime Minister does not belong to any one state but has to think of the entire country,” Pawar said.  

On Monday, the Congress similarly alleged that, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s direction, the Centre and the Mahayuti coalition have conspired to ensure the “wholesale surrender” of Maharashtra’s interests.

As these claims intensify during election season, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde have consistently countered, stating that the opposition’s accusations are unfounded and that Maharashtra remains a prime investment destination for industrialists.