Nagpur: In a serious bid to checkmate BJP in its home turf Vidarbha, and boost development, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government on Saturday announced a slew of projects including state-of-the-art steel project in the mineral rich eastern Vidarbha on the lines of Jamshedpur, food processing units and cluster, promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises in the cotton sector and fisheries development in the eastern Vidarbha.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday made the announcement in the state assembly. Thackeray’s focus on Vidarbha is important because BJP continues to hold its sway over the region although party’s seats in the assembly election came down to 29 in 2019 from 44 in 2014. Congress and NCP, Shiv Sena and others have won the remaining of the 62 seats.
In 2014, the BJP won 44 seats with an average margin of 14.1% votes whereas Congress had won 10 seats with an average margin of 5.6% of votes. In 2019, the average margin of the BJP in the Vidarbha region fell to 11.8% and the average margin of Congress rose to 10.8%. The average margin of the NCP in the region stood at 7.41%.
Further, Thackeray, whose party’s presence in Vidarbha is negligible, said the government will implement special scheme for agriculture and agri businesses for tribals, undertake special drive to construct roads and bridges in tribal dominated areas and provide healthy diet to tribal children from Melghat region to reduce malnutrition.