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BJP said that there was nothing new in Shiv Sena’s proposal and asked it to sort out seat-sharing issue through discussion and not through media.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray with party MP Sanjay Raut during a press conference in Mumbai. File photo

Shiv Sena on Sunday made it clear that it won’t make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for the next month’s polls, and said this was “the final attempt” to break the logjam over seat-sharing.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had backed him in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

“Today I am making a final attempt to ensure that the Mahayuti (grand alliance of opposition parties) stays intact. Sena had initially asked for 160 seats. But now we are ready to part with nine seats. Shiv Sena will fight on 151 seats, leaving 119 seats for BJP. The remaining 18 seats will be given to our allies,” he said.

“I cannot go any further,” said Mr. Thackeray, who addressed his party workers on Sunday morning after a meeting of the party’s state executive.

“Maharashtra will be the number one state in the country if Sena comes to power. I want power and I will take it at any cost. But this power is to give Maharashtra something and not to take away, like other parties do,” he said.

“Everyone knows how terrible the situation was when the Godhra riots took place. Everyone was saying that Mr. Modi should be immediately removed from the Gujarat Chief Minister’s post. At that time, it was only Balasaheb who told L.K. Advani that Mr. Modi should stay on as he pursues the Hindutva ideology,” he said.

In reply to Mr. Thackeray’s offer, the BJP said that there was nothing new in Shiv Sena’s proposal and asked it to sort out seat-sharing issue through discussion and not through media.

The BJP added “We want the alliance to continue. It is the duty of both parties to maintain the alliance.”

‘Make in India’ pitch from Sept. 25

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the “Make In India” campaign on September 25, aimed at reviving the job-creating manufacturing sector — key to taking the economy on a sustainable high growth path.

The drive, the Modi government hopes, will do for investment sentiment what the “Incredible India” campaign has accomplished for tourism. With his “Come, make in India” slogan in his Independence Day speech, Mr. Modi had invited global companies to set up manufacturing units in India to supply to the rest of the world.

For the launch, the government is likely to invite the who’s who of the global corporate sector from the U.S., Japan, Korea, Sweden, Poland, Australia, China, Italy, Germany and France.

The campaign includes invitations to the world’s top 3,000 companies to explore investment possibilities in India. Indian Embassies around the world are expected to join the campaign. “The objective is to take manufacturing growth on a sustainable basis to 10 per cent over the long term,” a senior Industry Ministry official told presspersons on Saturday. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has set up an eight-member expert panel to redress grievances and handle queries of global and domestic investors within 24 hours.

Its role will be to provide information and solve investors problems.

Panel to work with States to ease investment process

The ‘Make in India’ campaign to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25 will eventually take up policy reforms involving changes in laws to ensure ease of doing business in the country. An infrastructure push and tax issues are also on the cards, with the setting up of an eight-member expert panel by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Besides interfacing with investors, team Invest India will also work with Central and States departments to resolve policy and other issues.

“We will work with the States to accomplish de-bureaucratisation and deregulation and to ensure officials mindsets change from being permits issuers to partners in investment processes,” an official said.

Starting a business in India at present needs an entrepreneur to follow 12 procedures, which on an average takes 27 days. Similarly, enforcing contracts takes years, the official said adding that these need to be streamlined. The latest World Bank report on the ‘ease of doing business’ placed India at the 134th rank out of 189 economies on various parameters relating to business and regulatory environment.