"The government should understand that it is insulting a constitutional post," he said. (File photo)
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday hit out at the Maharashtra government over denial of permission to Governor BS Koshyari to travel to Dehradun in a state plane, and accused the Shiv Sena-led dispensation of being "egoistic" and indulging in "childish acts".
He also alleged the state government has insulted the constitutional post of governor.
According to sources, Mr Koshyari was scheduled to travel by a state government plane to Dehradun in Uttarakhand at 10 am on Thursday, but permission was not granted for the flight and he later took a commercial flight, which left for Dehradun around 12.15 pm.
Talking to reporters here, Mr Fadnavis said, "It is an unfortunate incident. Such anincident had never happened in the state earlier. Governor is not a person, it is a designation. People come and go, but the designation stays.
The governor is the head of the state. In fact, it is the governor who appoints the chief minister and his cabinet."
"The government should understand that it is insulting a constitutional post," the former chief minister said.
Mr Fadnavis said that in a normal circumstances if the governor wants to use a state flight, he has to send a letter to the General Administration Department (GAD), which then approves it.
"In this case, I came to know that the (governor's) entire travel programme was sent to the GAD. The chief secretary knew about it and a file was put up before the chief minister. But deliberately, till the governor sat in the plane, the permission was not given and ultimately, he (governor) had to get down from the plane," the BJP leader said.
He added that he has not seen such an egoistic government, which is engaging in childish acts.
"This is completely a childish act. I have not seen such an egoistic government. According to me, the CM and the government showing such egoistic attitude is wrong...It is like a street fight," he added.
He also said that this plane is a state government's property and not a private one.
"I don''t think the incident will affect the governor, but the image of the state might get tarnished... This incident is a blot of the state''s history," he added.