Nagpur: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday accused the MVA government in Maharashtra of being "anti-Vidarbha" and neglecting the region by not providing funds for its development.
The only development works underway in the Vidarbha region are those approved by Union minister Nitin Gadkari, Fadnavis claimed while addressing BJP workers ahead of the December 1 MLC poll for the East Vidarbha graduates'' constituency where the party has fielded Sandip Joshi.
"This government is completely anti-Vidarbha and its approach is the same towards Marathwada and other backward regions," alleged Fadnavis, who hails from Nagpur in Vidarbha.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has "contempt and anger" towards Vidarbha, the former chief minister further charged.
That is why it has discontinued the Vidarbha Statutory Development Board (the term of which expired in April this year) and other projects and did not provide any funds for Vidarbha, he said.
The farmers of Vidarbha affected by floods and other natural disasters are also left in the lurch, he said.
READ: Farmers' protest impact: Wholesale market supply hit, prices shoot up
The works pertaining to roads, flyovers, railway over-bridges and other projects in Vidarbha are initiated by Union minister Gadkari, he claimed.
"There is not even one work underway in Vidarbha which can be attributed to this government," the leader of opposition in state Assembly claimed and accused the ruling dispensation of not fulfilling its promises made to people.
"Is this a government or a drama?" he asked.
Fadnavis also said the previous BJP-led government had initiated the ''MahaJyoti'' scheme (a training and career guidance institute) for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), but the MVA government has stopped all various welfare measures under it.
Similarly, the Rs 500 crore fund which had been granted to the ''OBC Mahamandal'' under the BJP rule has not being spent by the MVA government for welfare of the community, he claimed.
"When we passed the law on reservation for the Maratha community, we had included a section which clearly mentioned that no one can touch the OBC community reservation," he said.
Some people in the current government are creating confusion on the issue of OBC reservation for "political purpose", he claimed.
PTI
