Committed to welfare of Palghar district, says Maha CM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday visited Palghar and said hisgovernment was committed to the welfare of the tribal-dominated district.

He, however, parried a query on the controversy overthe state governor's flight on Thursday, and took a swipe atthe BJP with a ''closed door'' jibe.

Talking to reporters in Jawhar, he said the focuswould be on developing the health, education, communication,water, industrial and tourism sectors in the district.

The district has a long coastline and Jawhar can bedeveloped as a hill station, the CM told reporters.

He sidestepped a query on the Maharashtra governorbeing denied permission on Thursday to fly to Dehradun inUttarakhand in a state plane.

However, tongue in cheek, he said airstrip facilitieswill be set up Palghar ''now that you (media) have reminded meabout flights''.

In reply to another query on the review meeting hechaired with district officials, the CM said ''I will tell youwhat I discussed behind closed doors'', a possible humour-lacedswipe at the BJP and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah, during a visit to the state's Konkan regionrecently, had spoken about the Shiv Sena's claim that the BJPhad broken its promise of sharing the CM's post after theOctober 2019 Assembly polls.

Shah had, at the time, said ''whatever I do ,I do it inthe open and not behind closed doors''.

During his visit to Jamsar PHC in Jawhar, Thackerayappreciated the rangolis and traditional art works created bytribals.

He said Warli paintings from the region should bepromoted so that people from far and wide are aware of itsbeauty.