Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan's statement that the western Indian state was competing "not against any other state but with the Unites States and China on the development front" has not gone down well with Shiv Sena.
"Does Chavan mean that farmers committed suicide in the US or China as 14,000 of them did in Vidarbha in last five years," Sena chief Bal Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana in Mumbai today.
Chavan should tell in which spheres has Maharashtra equalled US or China, Thackeray said.
"We are not aware of any load shedding in either US or China as a result of acute power shortage," the Sena chief said.
"There are around 55-60 lakh illegal Bangladeshis in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Chavan should tell us the number of such migrants in US and China," he said.
Industries in Maharashtra have been turned into graveyard, while China is leaving the US behind as industrial superpower, Thackeray said.
Comparing Maharashtra with the two countries is humbug, he added.
