Nagpur: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar has slammed the Shiv Sena over its allegedly ‘dubious stance’ on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train issue and asked it to oppose the supplementary demands in the assembly in which a provision for Rs 250 crore had been made for the project, after voting.

Mr Pawar alleged that the state’s debt burden has reached up to Rs 5 lakh crore because of fiscal indiscipline which was up to Rs 271 lakh crore when the Congress-NCP government’s term ended in 2014.

While raising the bullet train issue, Mr Ajit Pawar said, “Why does the government want the bullet train when it can’t provide necessary infrastructure for railway passengers and rail bridges are collapsing because of the lack of maintenance? The Shiv Sena is already opposing the project and if they oppose in the assembly too, 155 MLAs would be against the project. The Shiv Sena should vote against the provision of Rs 250 crore, so that the project is stalled. If the Shiv Sena supports the provision, then it would prove to be a dubious stance.”

Education minister Vinod Tawde pointed out a technical issue, saying that a provision is made in the supplementary demands by the general administration department and further discussion does not come under the purview of this department.

Mr Pawar asked the Shiv Sena to clear its stance while approving the provision in the assembly.