Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister, Aaditya Thackeray participated in an interview with Navbharat Times where he spoke on wide-ranging issues covering the achievements and the criticisms of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra.
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The current Maharashtra government completed its first year on November 28, and needless to say, the tenure has been less than ideal for the three-party coalition (Shiv Sena - Congress - NCP) led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Aaditya spoke about the future of the party as well as the relationship with Sena’s unlikely coalition partners. “We are working together as the 'Best of 11 Team'. Critics say that in the election we had given the slogan of 150 plus, let us tell them that our current strength is 162,” he said.
Thackeray has also received criticism from the opposition, as expected in a democracy. However, the environment minister said that the MVA government is performing well adding that the opposition’s criticisms are not about the government’s work.
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He added that he chose not to pay attention to the personal attacks levelled against him over the past few months and focused on the work. “As far as the personal attacks on me are concerned, you must have seen in football, there is man-to-man marking for Messi or Ronaldo. Everyone (players) surrounds them so as to stop them from scoring a goal. Maybe they feel threatened by me.”
Thackeray also hit back at recent criticisms of the Mumbai Police as well as Bollywood. “The opposition (BJP) feels that they all were good when they were in the government. But ever since they have lost the power, they have started feeling that Mumbai Police is bad, Bollywood is bad, people of Mumbai are bad. Mumbai was termed as the drug capital,” he said.
“It seems that they need to change the spectacles through which they are currently viewing the state. It does appear that the grapes are sour for the opposition now that we are running the government. They are being troubled by all the good work that is being done in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and therefore, they are making false allegations,” Thackeray added.
He remained confident that the MVA government will stand for the full five years, despite the opposition’s predictions of a premature end.
On the overall experience of being part of the state cabinet, Aaditya Thackeray said - “It has been a good experience, got better administrative and governance experience. We faced disasters like COVID-19 and the cyclone. I think the lessons I've learnt over the last one year will stand me in good stead for the next four years of our government. We received public support even in difficult circumstances.”
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