Nana Patole seeks White Paper on Davos deals; slams Maharashtra govt for agreements with liquor firms

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Friday said the Devendra Fadnavis government must release a White Paper on the investments received and jobs generated from Memoranda of Understanding MoU signed during previous visits to the World Economic Forum in Davos news agency PTI reportedAddressing a press conference Patole said Fadnavis has informed that 61 MoUs were signed entailing investments of Rs 157 lakh crore and having the potential to create 1595 lakh jobsWhile significant investments in Maharashtra are welcome the public has the right to know the specifics of these agreements and the reality behind them Similar grand announcements have been made in the past as well The Mahayuti government must release a White Paper on investments and job creation from previous deals at Davos the Maharashtra Congress President statedAccording to PTI Patole said that of the 61 companies that have signed agreements with the Maharashtra government in Davos 51 are based in India of which 43 are from Mumbai and Pune and only 10 are foreignbasedThese include a Rs 1500crore deal signed between City And Industrial Development Corporation CIDCO and Book My Show despite the Mumbai Police investigating the firm for black marketing of Coldplay concert tickets Patole allegedAnother agreement was with Hiranandani a company under probe for preparing fake documents related to demolition activities in Jay Bhim Nagar of Powai as well as for an Employees Provident Fund Organisation EPFO scam being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI Patole further allegedDoes BJPled government want to turn Maharashtra into liquor state PatoleIs the government encouraging black marketing by collaborating with such firms he questionedHe also came down heavily on the Maharashtra governments deal with liquor companies and said that despite Article 47 of the Directive Principles of State Policy DPSP in the Constitution asking states to work towards prohibiting consumption of intoxicating drinks etc the state has signed a Rs 750crore deal with alcohol manufacturer Heineken and a Rs 1500 crore deal with beer producer AB InBevDoes the BJP Bharatiya Janata Partyled government want to turn Maharashtra into a liquor state he askedAccording to PTI speaking about the deal signed with Dhanashree Mandhanis PRYM Company in Jalna Patole claimed that the target is to produce 6000 drones and the firm stated it has a 10000 squarefoot factory However no such facility exists he alleged adding that the company only assembles parts of knockeddown drones imported from abroadPatole also stated that while the Maharashtra CM was in Davos his Chhattisgarh counterpart Vishnu Deo Sai visited Mumbai and secured investments worth Rs 6000 crore for his stateSimilarly Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav visited Pune and met entrepreneurs to attract industries to the nenighbouring state he addedStand by Congress amounts to being antiMaharashtra BJP leaderIncidentally MP and Chhattisgarh are ruled by BJPThe Maharashtra government must bring genuine investments into the state instead of misleading people in the name of Davos Patole saidHitting back at the state Congress chiefs allegations BJP leader Pravin Darekar said that the Congress stand amounted to being antiMaharashtraMaharashtra was the talk of the town in Davos as it was among the six Indian states that took part in the event The Congress should not level baseless allegations Patole is making desperate attempts to save his post of state Congress chief stated DarekarIf the Congress takes an antiMaharashtra stand then it will continue to lose its support base as was seen the assembly polls he addedMeanwhile Patole also expressed grief over the Bhandara ordnance factory incident and claimed that even defence sector firms are not safe under the Narendra Modi government Around 1030 am on Friday an explosion occurred in the LTP section of the ordnance factory in the Jawahar Nagar area leading to eight deathsThe factory which manufactures raw materials for RDX is critical A thorough investigation into the explosion should be conducted by a committee of MPs Members of Parliament from all parties he demandedAsked about Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray hinting at contesting civic polls independently Patole said he welcomed the moveAs the leader of Shiv Sena UBT Thackeray has the right to decide on his partys strategy he addedSince local body elections have not yet been announced Congress will make its decisions after consulting officebearers when the time comes Patole assertedWith PTI inputs