Chief Minister Mr Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Mr Devendra Fadnavis may curtail their visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting from January 16 to 20 due to Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi’s visit to Mumbai on January 19. A senior bureaucrat confirmed the PM’s visit and he told the Free Press Journal on Tuesday,’’ PM will visit Mumbai for a day on January 19 to attend host of programmes including launch of sewage treatment plants, Metro 2 and 7, cancer hospital (at Thane) and roads.’’
Mr Fadnavis will also have to cut short his Davos visit as the BJP’s national executive meeting is slated for January 16 and 17 in Delhi to deliberate the party's strategy for the upcoming assembly elections and its preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The inauguration of these projects by PM is important with an eye on the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation as the BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena have geared up to assume power in India’s richest civic body defeating the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray.
Big event at BKC
BJP is expected to organise a big event possibly at the Bandra Kurla Complex in a serious bid to put up a show of strength on January 19 ahead of the BMC elections. BMC has already launched ‘’Jagar Yatra’’ across Greater Mumbai as a part of its outreach with voters. BJP has already announced it will contest the upcoming BMC elections in an alliance with Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena though it has yet to reveal the seat sharing arrangement.
Davos Summit
A senior officer from the industry department said that CM will lead a 13 member delegation for Davos summit. The delegation comprises DCM Mr Fadnavis, industry minister Mr Uday Samant, additional chief secretary in the CM’s office Mr Bhushan Gagrani, DCM’s secretary Mr Shrikar Pardeshi, principal secretary (industries) Mr Harshadeep Kamble, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation CEO Mr Vipin Sharma, DCM’s officer on special duty Mr Kaustubh Dhavse, the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation vice chairman Mr Ajay Ashar, the MIDC general manager Mr Abhijit Ghorpade, Mr Samant’s private secretary and also a team of KPMG.
The Shinde camp-BJP government, which has already launched a media blitzkrieg for Davos visit, proposes to project Maharashtra as the favoured investment destination with conducive atmosphere and ‘’double engine’’ government in Maharashtra. The government has set up a special pavilion to meet a slew of global companies and roll out a red carpet. Mr Samant has already said the government expects to attract an investment close to Rs 1 lakh crore during Davos visit.
The government’s move is important after the state lost five key projects including $20 billion Vedanta Foxconn semiconductor project, Rs 22,000 crore Tata Airbus defence plane manufacturing project, medical device project, bulk drug project and dedicated cluster project for renewable energy.
