Yuva Sena leader downplays presence at CM's meeting

Yuva Sena secretary Varun Sardesai on Wednesday sought to downplay his presence at a meeting chaired by his uncle and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier this week after eyebrows were raised over his attendance in bureaucratic circles.

Apart from Sardesai, the chief minister's son Aaditya Thackeray, who is the Yuva Sena chief and an MLA from Worli in Mumbai, was also present at the meeting held at the state secretariat on Monday.

Some secretariat officials are understood to have raised an objection over Sardesai's presence at the meeting.

Yuva Sena is the youth wing of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

Talking to PTI, Sardesai said it is the chief minister's prerogative as to who should be present at the official meetings.

"It was a tourism development meeting and what was discussed there is already in public domain. The meeting was not related to sensitive information pertaining to the Home department," he said.

Sardesai claimed that former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' wife Amruta Fadnavis had also attended official meetings when the BJP leader occupied the top post.

Reacting to the issue, NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said Thackeray's is a "completely new government with no administrative experience".

Malik, whose party is an ally in the Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, however, also said there should be "no-repeat" of the incident.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday ordered the state tourism department to draft a proposal to develop a multi-level aquarium in Mumbai on the lines of Bangkok-based Ocean World, a popular tourist attraction in Thailand.

His order came after a meeting with officials of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) here.

At the meeting, the chief minister reviewed major tourism projects which are under development and also those which have been proposed.