Mumbai: Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government has failed to implement the “Startup India” scheme in the state.

Mr Chavan cited the report of the Union government, which gives Maharashtra a very low rank. He said that the report exposes the state government’s policy on industry as well as employment.

“Chief minister Deve-ndra Fadnavis has ma-de tall claims and said that Maharashtra will be the ‘startup capital’ of India. The recent re-port of the Centre does not give Maharashtra a place even in the first 15 states,” he said.

Mr Chavan added that the report said our state to be last in declaring this policy. “This lethargy and negligence is costing us dearly,” he said.

State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar was quick to hit back, saying Mr Chavan made the comments without fully understanding the issue and said someone who had been a chief minister should not defame the state.

Mr Mungantiwar said that Maharashtra was home to highest number of startups (2,787) in the country.