Maha governor denied nod to travel in state plane to Dehradun

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat SinghKoshyari was scheduled to travel by a state governmentaircraft to Dehradun in Uttarakhand on Thursday, but thepermission to use the plane was not granted even as thegovernor had boarded the aircraft, sources said.

The governor later took a commercial flight to travelto Dehradun, a statement from the Raj Bhavan said.

This comes amid uneasy ties between the state's ShivSena-NCP-Congress coalition government and the governor, withboth the sides have being critical of each other in the past.

The Raj Bhavan statement said thegovernor'ssecretariat had written to the government authorities seekingpermission for the use of aircraft ''well in advance'' onFebruary 2.

The office of the chief minister was also informedabout it, the statement said.

When asked about the issue, Maharashtra Deputy ChiefMinister Ajit Pawar told reporters here he had no clue andwill be able to comment after gathering information.

However, the opposition BJP in Maharashtra accused thestate government of being ''egoistic'' and indulging in''childish acts'', and demanded an apology from the Shiv Sena-led dispensation over this.

According to the Raj Bhavan statement, Koshyari isscheduled to preside over valedictory function of the 122ndInduction Training Programme of IAS officers at the LalBahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration atMussoorie in Uttarakhand on Friday.

He was scheduled to depart from the ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai for Dehradunat 10 am on Thursday, the statement said.

Koshyari will travel to Mussoorie from Dehradun.

''Today, on 11th February 2021, the Honble Governorreached the CSIM Airport at 1000 hrs and boarded thegovernment plane. However, the Honble Governor was informedthat the permission for the use of Government Aircraft had notbeen received,'' the statement said.

As directed by the governor, tickets for Dehradun werebooked for the governor on a commercial aircraft leavingMumbai at 12.15 pm immediately and accordingly, he left forDehradun, it said.

Earlier, a source told PTI, ''Normally, governors donot wait for the permission to come. He sat in the aircraft.

The pilot then said the permission was not given yet.'' When asked about this, Pawar said he had no clue.

''I will take details on reaching the Mantralaya (statesecretariat) and only then will be able to say anything,'' thedeputy chief minister said.

Meanwhile, former Maharashtra minister and senior BJPleader Sudhir Mungantiwar said the MVA government shouldapologise for ''insulting'' the governor.

If the state government has purposefully deniedpermission, it is a ''blot'' on the state's reputation, he said.

''If this embarrassment is not intentional, then thestate government should suspend the official who failed toissue the flying permission in time to the governor,'' he said.

The government should apologise and avoid furtherescalation of the issue, Mungantiwar said.

BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis accused the state government of being''egoistic'' and indulging in ''childish acts''.

He also alleged that the state government has insultedthe constitutional post of governor.

''It is an unfortunate incident. Such an incident hadnever happened in the state earlier. Governor is not a person,it is a designation. People come and go, but the designationstays,'' he said.

The governor is the head of the state. In fact, it isthe governor who appoints the chief minister and his cabinet,Fadnavis pointed out.

''The government should understand that it is insultinga constitutional post,'' he said.

Notably, state Congress chief Nana Patole on Wednesdaysaid the MVA government has decided to move court over the'delay' by the governor in the appointment of nominatedmembers to the Legislative Council.

The state government recommended 12 names forappointment to the Council under the governor's quota toKoshyari in the first week of November last year.

However, Fadnavis on Wednesday said it was thegovernor's prerogative to approve or reject names recommendedby the state government.

In October last year, during the coronavirus-inducedlockdown, Koshyari wrote a letter to Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, asking if the latter had turned ''secular'' since hedenied permission at that time to reopen temples in the state.

The CM later said he does need a ''Hindutvacertificate'' from anyone.

During the pandemic last year, Koshyari also insistedon holding the final year exams of degree students in thestate, but Thackeray at that time rejected the demand.