Oppn won more seats in LS polls through fake narrative

Barely two weeks ahead of the assembly polls in Maharashtra, chief minister Eknath Shinde spoke to Surendra P Gangan on the Mahayuti's prep and how the ruling combine is fielding a volley of accusations from the opposition—primarily on a slew of welfare schemes it launched recently to "benefit people across classes".

- EKNATH SHINDE

He also alleged that the MVA has hastily "copy-pasted" the ruling combine's prized welfare scheme—the Ladki Bahin Yojana, through which women whose annual family income is below ₹2.5 lakh are given ₹1,500 a month. He also criticised the Thackeray brothers, asserting that he was the one who had saved Balasaheb Thackeray's legacy. Edited excerpts:

What changed in Maharashtra politics since Lok Sabha polls in which the Mahayuti performed poorly?

In the Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition won more seats by setting forth a fake narrative—that the Constitution would be changed and the reservation for SCs and STs would be disturbed; Muslims were also made victims of scaremongering.

People have woken up to the false propaganda and realised that MVA did not stand by the tall claims it had made. They have also understood that our government can work for the welfare of all sections of society—women, farmers, youth, the financially backward; our schemes prove the point.

Did Mahayuti learn from the Lok Sabha debacle and take any measures?

We concentrated on the welfare of people, and re-energised the schemes and projects that were halted or aborted by the erstwhile MVA government—the Jalyukt Shivar Yojana, Marathwada water-grid, a go-slow on the Atal Setu, Coastal Road and Metro projects are some examples.

There is apprehension that these schemes will leave the treasury bleeding and the state government would be unable to even pay salaries to its employees in January.

This, again, is a narrative pushed by the opposition that criticised our schemes.