India, Aug. 2 -- Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that if local 'dadagiri' and interference continue, Pune would lose its leadership role in the industrial sector. He reminded Punekars that Sambhajinagar is already emerging as the new EV capital and in all likelihood will go ahead of Pune. Even other cities are catching up, he said, and, hence, Pune should now concentrate on innovative hubs to stay ahead in the race.

Fadnavis was in the city to sign a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Niti Aayog for Pune Metropolitan Region Growth Hub. Pune is the fifth growth hub in the country.

While giving his speech, the chief minister said, "A big bottleneck of Pune's industrial development is 'local dadagiri' - the interference...