Bajaj Auto MD warns of EV policy failure; Aaditya slams Maharashtra govt

Mumbai, Feb 24 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday latched onto Bajaj Auto MD and CEO Rajiv Bajaj's critical comments about the Maharashtra government's electric vehicle (EV) policy, and blamed the BJP government for its "collapse".

Bajaj, in an interview to news channel CNBC-TV18, warned of a possible "failure" of the EV policy of the state government.

Thackeray, a former Maharashtra minister, said in a post on X that the BJP-led government allowed a once "active and dynamic" EV policy to collapse.

"The EV policy 2021 (brought in by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government) was active and dynamic giving a boost to the entire sector. Businesses, customers, everyone in the EV business considered our policy to be the best in India," Thackeray wrote.

"Unfortunately, with a change in govt, the BJP's entire focus changed and now we see that a policy that showed success in its initial years, has been made to collapse by the BJP regime," he added.

In the interview, responding to a question on whether states were uniform in disbursing EV subsidies, Bajaj said delays were not uncommon but dues were eventually cleared.

But the situation was different in Maharashtra, he said.

"In my 35 years, I have never witnessed anything that I could call a policy failure of government. But I think it is about to happen, with the Maharashtra government's EV policy," Bajaj said.

The subsidies for EVs which were disbursed until April 2023 have slowed dramatically, he claimed, adding that most, if not all, of the industry was affected by these delays. PTI ND KRK