Shiv Sena-UBT leader and former minister Aditya Thackeray on Saturday launched a scathing attack on foreign trips by ministers of the Eknath Shinde government, claiming some of these visits were cancelled after he highlighted them. He alleged that the government falsely cited droughts and floods as the reason for cancellation.
Thackeray first targeted Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s tour of the UK and Germany, which was initially scheduled for October 1-8, but was postponed on Tuesday. The new dates are yet to be announced.
“After I raised questions about this tour, it was cancelled. But now, the government is claiming the tour was postponed due to drought-like situation and excessive rain in parts of Maharashtra,” Aditya Thackeray said at a press conference at Shiv Sena-UBT headquarters in Mumbai.
The former minister said he had similarly objected to a proposed visit to Ghana by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar. The Speaker was scheduled to attend the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) in Ghana next week.
“The Speaker was to travel to Ghana to deliver a speech on parliamentary democracy. But he is also supposed to decide various disqualification petitions that he is hearing. The Supreme Court has already said that hearings should happen in a time-bound manner. So what was he going to speak about in Ghana when he is delaying the hearings here. After I raised this issue, his trip was cancelled,” said Thackeray.
He also targeted industries minister Uday Samant for trips to Germany and UK. “The World Economic Forum happened in Davos in January. Davos is back to being just a small town now. So why is the minister going there now? Is it not wasting people’s money?”
“Unconstitutional CM was there for 28 hours and the government spent more than Rs 40 crore. When we were in power, even we had gone for the same event, but each and every detail was planned minutely and everything was announced on social media. We can’t see the same about foreign trips of this government,” he added.
Commenting on Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s trip to Japan where he received an honorary doctorate, the Shiv Sena-UBT leader said: “Was the expenditure for Japan trip borne by the Japanese government? No, it is to be paid by MIDC as post-facto approval. I have no problem if anyone wants to travel abroad, but please travel on your own money,” he said.
Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar countered Thackeray’s criticism of Fadnavis’s Japan tour, saying the expenses were borne by the Japanese government.
“Devendra Fadnavis was invited as the guest for this tour, hence the entire expense was taken care of by their government. Maharashtra government had taken care of expenses of officials who had gone on tour with the Deputy Chief Minister. Details of how much investment he brought to the state are there on his (social media) timeline. If you missed it, kindly go through it again. Someone who went on a foreign tour when his own father was hospitalised should not comment,” Shelar said.
Aditya Thackeray had also questioned a trip to Australia and New Zealand by the deputy chairman of Legislative Council and 50 other members of the Assembly. “What did they learn? Will this tour help us have good quality roads? Finance department of the government should tell us.”
He questioned the government for allegedly not providing timely financial help to farmers of the state. “The Maharashtra CM was seen with Bollywood celebrities during Ganesh festival, but he couldn’t find the time to go to Nagpur and meet the flood-affected people.”
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