"What They...": Devendra Fadnavis Attacks Opposition Over Maratha Quota Row

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday hit out at the opposition parties, and asked what they did for the Marathwada region in the state when they were in power for two-and-a-half years.

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was speaking to reporters following his arrival at the airport here to attend a meeting of the state cabinet.

The opposition parties have been alleging that the Eknath Shinde government failed to implement the decisions taken for the development of Marathwada, which comprises Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (previously known as Aurangabad), Osmanabad, Jalna, Beed, Latur, Nanded, Hingoli and Parbhani districts.

Earlier this week, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve asked why the state government did not implement the decisions taken during a cabinet meeting held in 2016 when Devendra Fadnavis was chief minister.

All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen abbreviation (AIMIM) MP Imtiaz Jaleel also questioned the Eknath Shinde dispensation over the pending projects and decisions not implemented in the region till now.

"Those who are saying that decisions taken during a cabinet meeting here in 2016 have remained unimplemented should tell us what they did during the two-and-a-half years they were in power. If the decisions were not implemented, it was the duty of the previous government to take them forward. What were they doing when they were in power?" Mr Fadnavis asked.

"The Marathwada water grid scheme was killed by the previous (Maha Vikas Aghadi) government. They are levelling allegations only because they are trying to stall the cabinet meeting aimed at the development of Marathwada region," he added.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government came to power in November 2019, but collapsed in June 2022 after a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, which led to a split in the Shiv Sena.

The meeting of the state cabinet is being held here on the occasion of the Marathwada Liberation Day, also known as Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din, celebrated on 17 September annually.

Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din marks the integration of Marathwada with India after security forces invaded Hyderabad and defeated the Nizam and his Razakar units on September 17, 1948.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)