MUMBAI: The BJP on Wednesday lashed out at the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' (MVA) government under Uddhav Thackeray after a controversy erupted over CM’s nephew Varun Sardesai attending an official meet.
Yuva Sena secretary Sardesai and CM’s son Aditya Thackeray, who is Yuva Sena Chief and MLA from Worli were present at an official meeting held at the state secretariat on Monday to review infrastructure projects.
As the photographs of the meeting started getting circulated over social media on Wednesday, a controversy erupted over the propriety of their presence at the meeting.
In his defence, Sardesai said that he was invited by CM Thackeray for the meeting.
“It was a tourism development meeting and what was discussed there is already in public domain. The meeting was not related to sensitive information pertaining to the Home department,” he said.
Reacting to it, state BJP’s chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, “It looks like an alternative power centre is being created apart from the chief minister's office. It should not happen again.”
A wrong precedence being set by the new government, he said.
“It is also a violation of the confidentiality of government’s functioning,” Bhandari added.
Commenting on the matter, NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said Thackeray’s is a “completely new government with no administrative experience”.
Malik, whose party is an ally in the Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, however, also said there should be “no repeat” of the incident.
Sardesai also claimed that former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ wife Amruta Fadnavis had also attended official meetings when the BJP leader occupied the top post.