The Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son, Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde, appears sitting in the CM’s chair has sparked a controversy, with sections of the Opposition accusing Shinde’s son of disrespecting his father’s office. Shrikant, meanwhile, denied the allegations, claiming that he was photographed at his private residence in Thane and not at the Chief Minister’s office.
The new opposition led by Shiv Sena chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray slammed Eknath Shinde's government and called the Shrikant Shinde- Super Chief Minister.
NCP spokesperson Ravikant Varpe tweeted the image of Shrikant sitting on the chair in front of a photo of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray. A board kept below the photo and behind the chair read 'Maharashtra government-chief minister'. He wrote in Marathi, ''Best wishes to Shrikant Shinde for becoming Super CM. The strangulation of democracy is going on. What kind of Rajdharma is this?.
Shinde pointed out that he has been elected to Lok Sabha for consecutive terms and is aware of protocol and rules. The chair in the picture is at the private residence of the CM, it is not the official chamber of the CM, the room is used by the CM for video conferences the opposition has no issues, it is raising irrelevant issues,'' Shinde said.
Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar surprisingly came to his defence, saying it was indeed the private residence of the CM and there was no need to make an issue of who was sitting on the chair. It is the internal matter of the Shinde family, it is their private residence. Pawar said even as his party spokeperson Mahesh Tapase asked shinde to tender an unconditional apology to the people of Maharashtra.