The Shiv Sena Uddhav faction on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led MahaYuti government of hypocrisy over its participation in the World Economic Forum summit at Davos and questioned whether the staggering investment figures would ever translate into projects on the ground.
While the state government has hailed the trip as a “100 per cent success”, citing the signing of MoUs worth Rs 37 lakh crore, the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) camp said there was a sharp contrast between these claims and the reality of rural distress in Maharashtra.
In an editorial in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Uddhav faction said the lavish spending on the Davos delegation stood in painful contrast to the state’s internal struggles. It noted that in 2025 alone, more than 1,000 farmers died by suicide in the Marathwada region, with Beed district recording 256 cases, the highest in five years.
Quoting former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, the editorial said, “While foreign investment is vital for progress, misleading the public with massive figures is wrong because the truth eventually comes out. Will the chief minister release a white paper on the MoUs announced in Davos so far and the actual number of large foreign industries started in Maharashtra during his tenure?”
It added, “If Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Industries Minister Uday Samant insist the tour was 100 per cent successful, they must explain when this Rs 37 lakh crore investment will actually manifest on the ground and guarantee the 43.25 lakh jobs. Who will believe that a government unable to manage MGNREGA for the poor has brought back millions of jobs from Davos?”
According to the editorial, the state government’s public relations machinery projected the Davos visit as a historic achievement for Maharashtra’s development. However, former leader of the opposition Ambadas Danve described the exercise as “domestic investment with foreign packaging”.
Danve questioned why agreements with Indian companies, which could have been signed at the Mantralaya or Sahyadri Guest House in Mumbai, required costly meetings in five-star hotels in Switzerland.
The Thackeray camp also drew a comparison with Karnataka, saying the Congress-led government there avoided signing MoUs with domestic firms at the summit.
“Instead, they held over 50 meetings exclusively with global companies. They created a robust pipeline for new investments. They signed actual investment agreements worth Rs 10.27 lakh crore, representing real commitments rather than simple MoUs,” the editorial said.
It further alleged that under the Modi government, the “chariot of development is stuck in the mud of chaos”, claiming that official proclamations were proving deceptive, education and healthcare systems were weakening, and poverty was rising. It said the poor were ultimately bearing the financial burden of the Chief Minister’s Switzerland trip.
Stepping up its attack, the UBT faction said the real issue was whether chief ministers from BJP-ruled states had wasted public money on what amounted to tourism. It alleged that many leaders went to Davos only to sign preliminary agreements with Indian companies.
“These are not final contracts but merely MoUs. There is no guarantee that the investments shown in these figures will actually materialise on the ground. Travelling thousands of kilometres in first class with a large entourage, staying in five-star hotels, and holding lavish meetings at public expense could have been done more cheaply in Delhi or Mumbai,” the editorial said.
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