Maha govt followed norms in denying state plane to Guv: Raut

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut onThursday said the Maharashtra government has followed all thelaid-down norms in disallowing Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyarito use a state plane for his visit to Dehradun.

Rejecting the BJP's charge that the government hasinsulted the governor, Raut told reporters in Delhi that therewas no politics involved in the incident.

''We respect the governor. The government has upheldthe Constitution...This is what I gather from my conversationwith Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray,'' he said.

''If the governor wants to use the government plane forprivate work, then there are some rules and had the governmentviolated those rules, it would have been in the dock,'' theSena MP said.

He added that the state government has followed allthe procedures laid down by the Home Ministry regarding theuse of official machinery for going to the home state forpersonal work.

Raut, however, criticised Koshyari over the delay innomination of 12 names, recommended by the state cabinet, tothe Legislative Council from the governor's quota.

''If you feel insulted over the plane issue, then whatabout the insult of the cabinet that had recommended the names(for Council nomination) over a year ago?'' he asked.

Sources said that Koshyari was scheduled to travel bya state government aircraft to Dehradun in Uttarakhand onThursday, but permission to use the plane was not granted evenas the governor had boarded it.

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

The opposition BJP slammed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)government over the incident with former chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis accusing the Shiv Sena-led dispensation ofinsulting the governor.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)