Sources said that the governor’s office later booked a seat in a private aircraft and he left for Dehradun at around 12.15 pm.
Mumbai| On Thursday, Maharashtra governor B.S. Koshyari was scheduled to travel by a state government plane to Dehradun in Uttarakhand. However, permission was not granted to him to fly in the government plane, sources said.
Sources added that the governor later took a commercial flight to travel to Dehradun.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, when asked about his, told reporters here that he had no clue and would be able to comment after gathering information.
The opposition BJP in the state, however, demanded an apology from the Uddhav Thackeray-led government over this.
Koshyari was to leave for Dehradun from Mumbai at 10 am, as per sources. The governor has to attend a programme in Mussoorie on Friday. He was scheduled to go to Dehradun first and from there he was to travel to Mussoorie, sources said, news agency PTI reported.
“Accordingly, a state government plane was booked. But, the permission did not come till the last moment,” a source was quoted as saying by PTI.
“Normally, governors do not wait for permission to come. He sat in the aircraft. The pilot then said the permission was not given yet,” the source added.
Sources said that the governor’s office later booked a seat in a private aircraft and he left for Dehradun at around 12.15 pm.
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, responding to reporters, said: “I have no clue about this…I will take details on reaching the secretariat and only then will be able to say anything.”
Former Maharashtra minister and senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar, however, said the Maha Vikas Aghadi government should apologise for “insulting” the governor.
Mr Mungantiwar said that if the state government had deliberately denied permission, it is a “blot” on the state’s reputation.
“If this embarrassment is not intentional, the state government should suspend the official who failed to issue the flying permission in time,” he added.
Mr Mungantiwar stressed that the government should apologise and avoid further escalation of the issue.
This comes at a time when the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government has recommended 12 names for appointment to the Council under the governor’s quota to Koshyari in the first week of November last year, but there has been no approval/rejection by the governor in the matter.
On Wednesday, state Congress chief Nana Patole had said the MVA government had decided to move court over the “delay” by the governor in the appointment of nominated members to the Legislative Council.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, however, said it was the governor’s prerogative to approve or reject names recommended by the state government.
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