Relentless in his criticism of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP (Ajit Pawar) government over alleged corruption and mis-governance, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday flagged the contentious issue of “foreign trips” undertaken by the state ministers, bureaucrats and others, including Chief Minister Shinde himself and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, and Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar.
In a series of messages on social media platform “X” on the foreign jaunts undertaken by Shinde, Fadnavis, Speaker Narvekar, State Legislative Council’s deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe and others, Aaditya said: “Foreign trips are in fashion for the illegal regime in Maharashtra. Spending public money, no outcomes for the state has been the norm for these holidays of ministers & officials in the Shinde-BJP Regime of Maharashtra.
“The point is, I have no personal issues with them. More so, if any of them wishes to go for a holiday, they should, but not on taxpayer money. The finance ministry should clarify if the state can afford these holidays on taxpayer money,” Aaditya – who is the son of former chief minister and Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray-- said.
Targeting the chief minister, Aaditya wrote: “Last week, Shinde was to visit Germany and UK for a holiday, disguised as an official tour of the govt with a huge number of people shown as delegation. After I asked for the details of the tour on social media, about investors that he would meet or the places he would visit, his office cancelled the tour within 30 minutes of my social media post,” Aaditya wrote.
Singling out Fadnavis for his recent trip to Japan on the invitation of the Mumbai-based Consul General of Japan, Aaditya said that “surprisingly, even with an invite from the government, the 5-day trip has been sponsored by the state-run Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).