Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday said the Mahayuti would take Maharashtra on the development path with “triple” speed, stressing that it returned to power due to the work done over the past two and a half years.

Without taking names, Shinde attacked Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying "some inherit the throne but not the brain" and called him a “guest” who visits the House as a part-time activity.

The Shiv Sena chief was replying to a debate in the legislative council on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his joint address to both Houses of the state legislature during the ongoing Winter Session in Nagpur.

Shinde said that during the assembly elections, the Mahayuti of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP destroyed the fake narrative spread by the opposition during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

After its poor show in the General Elections, Mahayuti handed a humiliating defeat to the Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP), in the state polls by winning over 230 of the 288 seats. MVA could bag only 46 seats.

Shinde said he was called an unconstitutional CM but Mahayuti diligently worked for the welfare of women, farmers and other sections of society which translated into its landslide victory.

“As the DCM (deputy CM), I am ‘Dedicated to Common Man’,” said Shinde, adding that the three-party government will take the state on the development path at triple speed.

He also questioned the opposition’s objection to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), wondering how it won the polls in Jharkhand and Karnataka. Rather than introspecting on its poor performance, the opposition is making a hue and cry over EVMs, he said.

The Shiv Sena chief jibed at his former party boss Thackeray over his short stay in the legislative council on Tuesday, terming it a “part-time” pursuit.

“I don’t like to criticise anyone but in the past two and a half years, we faced only criticism. Even now (after the polls), they have not stopped it. Some people inherit the throne but not the brain,” he said.

After Shinde led a rebellion against Thackeray in 2022 and split the Bal Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena, the two Sena factions have been bickering almost non-stop.

Shinde also highlighted the works done by the Mahayuti government for the Vidarbha region and said the last stretch of the Samruddhi Expressway is nearing completion. He said Nagpur is being developed as a logistics hub, while Naxalism is being wiped out from Gadchiroli.

The government is committed to empowering women and Rs 1,400 crore has been provisioned for the December installments of the popular ‘Ladki Bahin’ programme under which beneficiaries receive monthly assistance of Rs 1,500, he said.

The government wants to take the number of women earning more than Rs 1 lakh a year to 50 lakh in the state, said the deputy CM.

As part of its commitment to the welfare of farmers, Shinde said, farm loans worth Rs 7,781 crore availed by 45 lakh growers were waived under ‘Bali Raja Sanjeevani Yojana’. The government also provided financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per hectare as relief to farmers, he said.

Across Maharashtra, 25 lakh hectares of land will come under irrigation. The issues in drought-prone Marathwada and other parts facing water scarcity will be addressed, he said.

Shinde said the government will work on the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make Mumbai the country’s fintech capital.

Various works worth Rs 10 lakh crore are in progress in the state to provide basic amenities and infrastructure, he said, accusing the MVA of stalling several projects during its two-and-a-half-year tenure.

Maharashtra is back to its number one position in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and it is aiming to create 10 lakh jobs, he said.

The Mahayuti government has released Rs 416 crore for the CM’s Relief Fund, Shinde added.

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