Maharashtra minister admits he was invited to Cordelia cruise party

The minister said that it was unfortunate that BJP was trying to take political mileage out of the incident and malign the Maha Vikas Aghadi govt

Maharashtra’s ports, fisheries and textiles minister and senior Congress leader Aslam Shaikh on Monday confirmed that he was invited to the Cordelia cruise party, however, he made it clear that he does not know Fashion TV India head Kashiff Khan, the chief organiser of the event.

Shaikh’s statement comes hours after Minority Affairs minister and NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik claimed that Shaikh was invited and even some kids of ministers were lured to attend the party on October 2-3 aboard Mumbai-Goa cruise.

To repeated questions on whether he knows Kashiff Khan, Shaikh, who is also the guardian minister of Mumbai City district, replied in negative. “As far as my memory goes I have never spoken to Kashiff Khan over phone,” he said.

“That invite was like many others I get daily... Since I had no plan to go, I did not inquire further and the matter ended there," Shaikh said, adding that he gets invited to functions, office, residence and places to go.

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“I get invitations to go to malls, attend marriage receptions, attend birthdays, housewarming and so on. In these functions also I get invite….I give those to my personal assistant and plan later as per engagements,” he said.

Shaikh said that presently two agencies, the NCB and Mumbai Police, are probing the incidents. “When two agencies are probing the matter, the truth will surface soon,” he said.

Shaikh said that it was unfortunate that BJP was trying to take political mileage out of the incident and malign the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Without naming state’s tourism, environment and protocol minister Aaditya Thackeray, he said: “You all know how my minister colleague was targeted and his name was dragged into the Disha Salian suicide case….what happened during the death of Sushant Singh Rajput? The BJP went all out to target the MVA government, ministers and leaders, till the Bihar elections. After the elections were over everything ended and nobody talked about it..." Shaikh said.

“Even now, the whole national and even international media is focussing on this case, but nobody is talking about the huge drugs consignment of over Rs 20,000-crore seized from a container at Mundra Port in Gujarat," said Shaikh and also urged the media to investigate it. “Instead of targeting vulnerable kids, they must find out who the dealers are,” he added.

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