Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray addresses a press conference, in Mumbai, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Launching a scathing attack on BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, Shiv Sena (UBT's) Aaditya Thackeray lashed out at the former for what he described as "wasting public money in foreign jaunts".
“Foreign trips are in fashion for the illegal regime in Maharashtra. Spending public money, no outcomes for the state has been the norm for these holidays of ministers in Shinde-BJP govt,” said Aaditya, adding that because of questions CM Shinde and Speaker Rahul Narwekar had cancelled visits.
"Last week, Shinde was to visit Germany and the UK for a holiday, disguised as an official tour of Maharashtra government with a huge number of people shown as delegation. After I asked for the details of the tour, his office cancelled the tour within 30 minutes of my social media post. Likewise, in the past two days, I have asked about the irony of Narvekar visiting the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, while denying justice to Maharashtra’s democratic principles. Even he cancelled his tour,” said Aaditya, a former minister and MLA from Worli, Mumbai.
He pointed out that Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis visited Japan on the invitation of the Japanese government.
“Surprisingly, even with an invite from the government, the 5-day trip was sponsored by the MIDC. Interestingly, MIDC had given a post facto approval to the expenses on travel and stay. Ideally, this is borne by the host if its an official invite. More so, the GR states that there will be a detailed report filed by the delegation within one month of arrival. It’s been more than a month now. We can’t see any report apart from an honorary doctorate to the DyCM. Why does MIDC have to bear the expenses for a trip to receive an honorary degree?,” he asked.
Targeting Industries Minister Uday Samant, he said, “Now another trip has been approved, that of the Industries Minister to UK, Switzerland, and Germany. In the UK, he is supposed to attend a “round table conference”, but nobody has any details of who all will attend this conference. Later, he will attend a conference/meeting on “artificial intelligence”. In Switzerland, he will visit Davos for an inspection tour. Funnily, nobody from the World Economic Forum is in Davos. It’s a regular town and WEF happens in January. While he isn’t even the Guardian Minister of Davos, what is he going to inspect there?”.
“Speaker Rahul Narwekar had visited Russia for five days, without any details of the tour. Deputy Chairperson, Dr Neelam Gorhe, visited Europe with 49 people, but no report on any outcomes of the study tour," Aaditya added.