Fadnavis slams MVA govt over denial of state plane to Governor

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis onThursday hit out at the Maharashtra government over denial ofpermission to Governor B S Koshyari to travel to Dehradun in astate plane, and accused the Shiv Sena-led dispensation ofbeing egoistic and indulging in childish acts.He also alleged the state government has insulted theconstitutional post of governor.According to sources, Koshyari was scheduled to travelby a state government plane to Dehradun in Uttarakhand at 10am on Thursday, but permission was not granted for the flightand he later took a commercial flight, which left for Dehradunaround 12.15 pm.Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis said, It is anunfortunate incident.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis onThursday hit out at the Maharashtra government over denial ofpermission to Governor B S Koshyari to travel to Dehradun in astate plane, and accused the Shiv Sena-led dispensation ofbeing ''egoistic'' and indulging in ''childish acts''.

He also alleged the state government has insulted theconstitutional post of governor.

According to sources, Koshyari was scheduled to travelby a state government plane to Dehradun in Uttarakhand at 10am on Thursday, but permission was not granted for the flightand he later took a commercial flight, which left for Dehradunaround 12.15 pm.

Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis said, ''It is anunfortunate incident. Such anincident had never happened inthe state earlier. Governor is not a person, it is adesignation. People come and go, but the designation stays.

The governor is the head of the state. In fact, it is thegovernor who appoints the chief minister and his cabinet.'' ''The government should understand that it is insultinga constitutional post,'' the former chief minister said.

Fadnavis said that in a normal circumstances if thegovernor wants to use a state flight, he has to send a letterto the General Administration Department (GAD), which thenapproves it.

''In this case, I came to know that the (governor's)entire travel programme was sent to the GAD. The chiefsecretary knew about it and a file was put up before the chiefminister. But deliberately, till the governor sat in theplane, the permission was not given and ultimately, he(governor) had to get down from the plane,'' the BJP leadersaid.

He added that he has not seen such an egoisticgovernment, which is engaging in childish acts.

''This is completely a childish act. I have not seensuch an egoistic government. According to me, the CM and thegovernment showing such egoistic attitude is wrong...It islike a street fight,'' he added.

He also said that this plane is a state government'sproperty and not a private one.

''I don't think the incident will affect the governor,but the image of the state might get tarnished... Thisincident is a blot of the state's history,'' he added.