On Bal Thackeray's death anniversary, Patel to woo investors to Gujarat

The Shiv Sena-BJP battle is far from done yet. On a day when Shiv Sena is observing the second death anniversary of Bal Thackeray, Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel is leading a high-level delegation to invite investors for the Vibrant Gujarat Global summit slated for January 2015.

 

Newspapers are flooded with reports about Shiv Sena's massive plans at Shivaji Park today and tomorrow to pay obeisance to Thackeray. At the same time, advertisments by the Gujarat government about the proposed summit have also been prominently carried.

 

Shiv Sena wants to exploit Thackeray's death anniversary to instill confidence among workers after it broke ties with BJP. 

 

On the other hand, this is Patel's second visit to the state in a month. The Gujarat CM was present along with her counterparts during the swearing-in ceremony of the Devendra Fadnavis government at Wankhede stadium. 

 

Patel's agenda today is to project Gujarat's prominece as an investment destination. In the run up to the assembly election, Patel had courted controversy by calling investors to Gujarat from the 'congested' financial capital. 

 

In her address at the function organised by the city's leading industry chamber in the third week of September, Patel had asked investors to think beyond Mumbai. Reffering to Mumbai's traffic problem, she had said that Gujarat offers a better quality of life to industrialists. 

 

Shiv Sena had then hit back at Patel, alleging that the BJP and Gujarat government were working together so that Mumbai loses its status as India's commercial and financial capital. 

Patel's viist is also significant when Maharashtra CM Fadnavis has promised a host of sops for investors.