MVA takes a dig at PM over Guj visit

MUMBAI: Ruling parties in Maharashtra on Wednesday asked why Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi did not visit Maharashtra and announced aid only for his home state Gujarat when both the states were hit by Cyclone Tauktae. Meanwhile, politicians from ruling parties as well as opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started touring cyclone-hit coastal districts.

In the backdrop of PM Modi’s Gujarat tour on Wednesday, Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders criticised him for giving Maharashtra a different treatment.

The Congress asked why Modi gave a miss to other states hit by Cyclone Tauktae. State Congress chief Nana Patole asked why Modi did not visit Maharashtra which was one of the worst-hit states due to the cyclone. “Coastal districts (in Maharashtra) have sustained huge losses due to losses of coconut, mango trees and damages to fishing boats and housing structures. Despite this, the PM visited parts of his home state and announced relief package. Is he the PM of only Gujarat,” he questioned. Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that PM Modi visited Gujarat because the government in his home state was weak. “I do not want to say anything on his Gujarat tour, because the prime minister should visit the battered parts of the country. Maharashtra has faced similar losses as other states due to the cyclone, but he must have thought of Gujarat first because of the weak leadership in that state. He knows that Maharashtra is in able hands of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, but it may not be the case of Gujarat. He must have felt about more need of giving helping hands to the people of Gujarat,” he said.

Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) chief spokesperson and minority affairs minister Nawab

Malik said, “Is this not discrimination towards Maharashtra?”

BJP vice-president Madhav Bhandari has hit back and asked why the chief minister did not visit the affected districts in his own state. “Before raising questions about Modi’s tour, MVA leaders should first reply why the CM did not visit Ratnagiri or other districts hit by the cyclone immediately, as the PM did. They should also reveal about the quantum of losses Maharashtra has sustained while comparing it with Gujarat. The losses in Gujarat are many times more than here. MVA leaders are busy in politicising everything, even a natural calamity like this,