One should not lie at this age: Fadnavis slams Sharad Pawar on aircraft unit in Gujarat claim

Nagpur: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday accused NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar of lying after the latter claimed that the Final Assembly Line (FAL) of Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus was moved to Gujarat at the behest of PM Modi.

Hitting back at Pawar, Fadnavis cautioned people to be wary of attempts to set up a fake narrative.

He blamed the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government's attitude for the flight of projects outside Maharashtra.

He was responding to Pawar's claim that the Final Assembly Line (FAL) of Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus in Gujarat was to be set up in Maharashtra, but the project was shifted at the behest of Modi.

The Deputy CM said the people of Maharashtra should once again be told the facts before a fake narrative gets strengthened.

"One should not tell lies at this age. During the era of Jairam Rameshji and Sharad Pawarji, when Gujarat and Karnataka used to be number 1 in attracting investments and today they (Pawar and Ramesh) are a little more upset when Maharashtra has become number 1," Fadnavis tweeted on X.

Addressing a poll rally in Baramati, Pawar said Ratan Tata wanted the FAL and Airbus project to come up in Maharashtra, and in consultation with him, a 500-acre plot in the Nagpur MIDC area was marked for it.

“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 claimed.

Slamming Pawar, Fadnavis shared newspaper and video links on X explaining the Tata Airbus, Foxconn and other projects and why they were set up in other states due to the careless approach of the then MVA government.

Fadnavis claimed the then MVA government failed to give proper response when Tata group representatives visited the MADC office in Nagpur.

He said four sites were decided for the Airbus project in Gujarat when the Maha Vikas Aghadi was in power.

Fadnavis accused MVA leaders of peddling lies on Tata Airbus, Foxconn and other projects.

They had raised a hue and cry on the issue of the Safran project. The company had inaugurated its project in Hyderabad on March 2, 2021. However, a huge outcry was created when this project was shifted to Gujarat when our government came to power, he stated.

"I had addressed a press conference on October 31, 2022, in Mantralaya (Maharashtra state headquarters) on all these issues and gave a detailed presentation. But, the same false agenda is being repeatedly spread," Fadnavis said.

"It is true that if you have nothing to say, you take recourse to lie. Let it be. On the one side, there is a government which brought 52 per cent of total FDI in Maharashtra, on the other side is 'Kartavshunya' Maha Vikas Aghadi acting as a brand ambassador of Gujarat. The people of the state will deliver a result on November 20," he added.