On a day when State Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan came under severe flak from the Opposition in both the Houses of Maharashtra legislature for attending a children’s function with a revolver tucked in his waist, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended his colleague and said that the Minister had not broken any law in the process. After the Opposition targeted Mahajan on the issue in the State Assembly, the chief minister on Monday rose to the minister’s defence and debunked the Opposition’s efforts to rake up an unnecessary controversy. “Mahajan has a licence to carry weapon for last two decades. An arm licence holder is expected to carry the weapon and not keep it at home,” Fadnavis said.
Mahajan came in for castigation from the Opposition members in both the Houses of the State legislature after a few regional newspapers published a photograph showing him address the students at a deaf and mute children school at Jalgaon in north Maharashtra on Saturday, with revolver tucked in his belt. The weapon carried by the Minister is clearly visible in the photograph. While defending the Minister, Fadnavis agreed that the weapon was visible in the photograph when the Minister attended a children’s function, a thing that could have been avoided and that he would tell the Minister concerned to ensure against recurrence of such a display in future.
Responding to the Opposition’s protests on the same issue in the Upper House, the chief minister reiterated that Mahajan had been possessing a licenced revolver for the last 25 years. “A licence is given only when a person needs to keep a revolver for his safety. He has not broken any law by carrying a revolver,” Fadnavis said. The Chief Minister’s intervention came after Sunil Tatkare of the NCP ridiculed Mahajan for carrying a revolver to the children’s function. “Where was the need for the minister to carry his revolver to a children’s functionIJ,” Tatkare asked. Meanwhile, Mahajan defended himself by saying that if he possessed a licenced revolver, it was for self-defence and said he has not been involved in any kind of violence in the past. Talking to media persons, Fadnavis said, “I admit that the revolver was visible. But never have I pointed a revolver, or gotten involved in violence of any kind in my life. The revolver is merely for self-defence”.