JOIN USMaharashtra: Oppn MVA boycott CM’s tea, meets Governor
Lashing out at the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government, the Opposition MVA on Sunday boycotted the customary high tea meeting hosted by the CM on the eve of the budget session questioning the extravagant spending on advertisements and publicity including expenses on snacks to the tune Rs 2.38 crore in Varsha in the last few months.
Varsha is the official chief ministerial bungalow located at Malabar Hill. Instead, a delegation of the MVA spearheaded by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar and his counterpart in Council Ambadas Danve called on newly-appointed Governor Ramesh Bais to share the concerns of the people.
The Opposition also reasserted that they are solidly behind former CM Uddhav Thackeray, whose government was toppled by Shinde with the help of the BJP. The split has been legitimised by the Election Commission and the name Shiv Sena and bow-and-arrow symbol were allotted to the group headed by Shinde.
Targeting Shinde, Pawar said: “We also have been ministers…for ‘khan-paan’ in Varsha, Rs 2.38 crore has been spent…what tea they are serving, do they sprinkle gold in it.”
Pawar also said in the last eight months, the Maharashtra government has spent Rs 50 crore for advertisements and the same for the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation was Rs 17 crore. “The Shinde-Fadnavis government is extravagantly spending crores of rupees to show their smiling faces, instead of solving the woes of the common man. We have decided to boycott the invitation for high tea,” said Pawar.
Danve, who belongs to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), said that several MoUs were signed during the World Economic Forum in Davos, but, there is yet clarity to emerge. On the expenses over snacks in Varsha, Shinde said that Varsha is functioning and people from all over the state are. “Do we not offer them water also?…let us not get into such issues,” he told the Opposition.
On the issue of advertisements, Shinde said: “We are doing it as we want to spread the plans and policies of the government. If we take into account the spending of the previous governments, it is many times more.”