Signing MOUs with Mum firms in Davos a cruel joke: Prithviraj Chavan

Kolhapur: Signing investment deals with Mumbai-based companies at the World Economic Forum negates the purpose of the global event, and is a "cruel joke", said former chief minister and senior Congress politician Prithviraj Chavan while addressing reporters at his residence in Satara's Karad on Sunday.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has wrapped up his Davos (Switzerland) visit, where he participated in the WEF and claimed that memorandums of understanding (MOUs) totalling Rs 30 lakh crore, which will eventually generate 40 lakh jobs in Maharashtra, were signed between Maharashtra govt and private companies.Chavan said he doubted whether the representatives of Indian companies travelled to Davos to sign the deal just to inflate the investment figures."For the progress of the state's industry, foreign investment is necessary. However, announcing big numbers misleads people. The truth will eventually come out. In the last visit, many MOUs were signed. How many industries started? How much real foreign investment came into the state? These questions are still unanswered," said Chavan.The former chief minister cited an observation by Karnataka's industry minister M B Patil: "Karnataka never signs deals with Indian companies at the Davos meet. It only signs deals with global firms. Only because of this, Karnataka gets real foreign investment and, therefore, has more per capita income than Maharashtra."Signing the deals with local companies such as Adani and Lodha at Davos is a cruel joke and totally against the purpose of a global meet. Maharashtra's youths need transparent, responsible and direct employment rather than events and big announcements. The CM should release a white paper with the details of the deals done so far and actual jobs created," said Chavan.