'Maha govt wrote to Vedanta chairman days before Gujarat location announcement'

Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday claimed Maharashtra had written to Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal in September this year for signing an MoU days before the firm disclosed Gujarat is its pick for the FoxconnVedanta semiconductor plantAddressing a press conference Aaditya Thackeray referred to a letter dated September 5 2022 written to Agarwal by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporations MIDC chief executive officer P Anbalagan inviting Vedanta Foxconn and Avanstrate to indicate a convenient time and date for signing a Memorandum of Understanding MoUThe MIDC is the premier industrial infrastructure development agency under the Maharashtra governmentThackeray alleged the Eknath ShindeBJP government is lying and reiterated his challenge for an open debate with the chief minister on projects such as VedantaFoxconn picking other states over MaharashtraThe document shared by Thackeray states that subsequent to the letter shared by Shinde on July 26 and an inperson meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on July 29 an offer was extended under consideration of Vedantas Fab CityThis means when a stage comes for signing an MoU it is implied that all talks have been finalised and the next step is to sign the MoU and then take the Cabinets approval This government keeps lying Thackeray saidA lie is being spread that VedantaFoxconn chose Gujarat to set up its Rs 154 lakh crore semiconductor plant because of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA governments failureRejecting Thackerays allegations state Industries Minister Uday Samant said the MoU was never signedThe state government the chief minister and the deputy chief minister had requested Agarwal to sign an MoU but he tweeted a decision about Gujarat had already been taken the minister claimedAlso Read Dharavi redevelopment Adani Group bags project with Rs 5069 crore bidTo sign the MoU a highpower committee meeting should have taken place It happened on July 15 after directions from the chief minister For eight months the highpower committee meeting did not take place Samant saidOn September 14 Agarwal tweeted We decided Gujarat few months ago as they met our expectations But in July meeting with Maharashtra leadership they made a huge effort to outbid other states with a competitive offer We have to start in one place amp based on professional amp independent advice we chose GujaratThackeray and the opposition parties have been targeting CM Shinde after the state lost the ambitious projectIf this project was not going to come up in Maharashtra then why was this letter sent for MoU signing Thackeray askedSo who is lying Is the deputy chief minister or the industries minister lying The unconstitutional chief minister does not speak as if he does not know anything he saidThe Worli MLA dared Shinde to debate with him how the Vedanta Foxconn project Bulk Drugs Park and Renewable Energy Equipment Park went out of our stateHe also accused the ShindeFadnavis government of taking credit for the work done by the previous MVA government under Uddhav Thackeray and claimed when a project does not work out the blame is then passed on to the MVAThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever