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Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari denied permission to use state plane

After there was no approval from the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray for the special VVIP flight, the Governor and his entourage decided to board an airline flight to the destination instead.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari denied permission to use state plane-dnm
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Mumbai, First Published Feb 11, 2021, 5:26 PM IST

Mumbai: In a fresh chapter in the bitter tussle between governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the latter denied permission to Koshyari to use the state aircraft to travel to Mussoorie for a function on Thursday.

The development comes amid the ongoing face-off between the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government and Governor on several issues including the 12 appointments to the Legislative Council under the Governor's quota.

After there was no approval from the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray for the special VVIP flight, the Governor and his entourage decided to board an airline flight to the destination instead.

"It was the first time ever that we had this situation where the governor was seated inside the special aircraft, even as officials tried in vain to get the requisite signature from the chief minister," the source said.

Koshyari remained seated in the aircraft for about 15 minutes, by which time, he would have been informed about the problem at hand, said the source. "He alighted, went back into the lounge and decided to fly to Dehradun on a scheduled airline flight," the source added.

The chief minister office (CMO) is supposed to clear all the requests related to use of the government aircraft. The request from Raj Bhavan was pending for approval till Wednesday night. The governor’s office was also informed about the status of the request, the officials said.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis termed the incident as an “unfortunate” one and said that it was a “black chapter” for the state.

Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Anil Parab and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that they are not aware of the matter and will be able to speak only after taking the information.

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