Mumbai, Jan 15 The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Monday criticised Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for taking with him a huge 50-member delegation on his second trip to Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting this week.
Questioning whether it was "a Swiss picnic" Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Maharashtra minister Aditya Thackeray and Congress' Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar pointed out that when barely 2-3 persons are required to sign business agreements, "then what is the need to take 50 people at a cost of Rs 34 crore".
Thackeray Jr. claimed that the delegation has officials, their families and "even three-four middlemen", aides and assistants travelling to Switzerland.
He said that last year, CM Shinde had spent barely 28 hours in Davos spending Rs 40 crore and asked why "50 people are going and for what real purposes".
Wadettiwar wondered that when the state's financial condition was not good, was the CM going on a Swiss sight-seeing with so many persons in tow, and trying to bring business for Gujarat?
He alleged that last year, agreements with companies having questionable records with no capacity or bank balances were touted as having made investments worth "thousands of crores" and hardly anything materialised but a lot of projects went to Gujarat. Smarting under the unexpected attack, Industry Minister Uday Samant launched a counter-attack on Aditya Thackeray, and claimed that "this will be the CM's historic visit to Davos".
Samant of the ruling Shiv Sena further said that most members of the delegation are travelling at their personal expense for the glory of Maharashtra at the global level and promised that all accounts would be given after they returned.
Not satisfied, Aditya Thackeray threatened that despite a clarification by the government on the size of the delegation, many questions remain unanswered and "we shall examine legal options" on this issue as public money is involved.
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