'Maha govt needs willpower not 'mortgaging' of state to build

The Maharashtra government need not "mortgage the state" but should show willpower to construct the memorial of B R Ambedkar in Mumbai, the NCP said Thursday in response to a statement made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis a day before.

NCP state unit president Jayant Patil also said that Maharashtra has a capacity to build 10 memorials of the Dalit icon. "However, the present regime has pushed the state's economy into a precarious condition," he said.

Fadnavis had said at a function in Thane Wednesday that he would not hesitate "mortgaging" the state, if needed, for the construction of the memorial at Indu Mills land in central Mumbai.

In a statement, Patil said it did not behove the chief minister to speak the language of mortgaging the state.

"This state is committed to the ideology of Ambedkar. Therefore, there is no need to mortgage the state, but to show willpower to build the memorial", he said.

The state government has already announced that the memorial, being built on a 12.5 acre plot in now-defunct Indu Mill, would be completed by April 14, 2020. Ambedkar's birth anniversary falls on April 14.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed 'bhoomi pujan' of the memorial in October 2015.