Mumbai:
After the embarrassment caused for Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan following fellow partyman, Congress MP Milind Deora's, comment about slow decision-making in the state and delays in key projects in Mumbai, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar today tried to downplay the incident. Mr Pawar has said that Mr Deora's is young, so his remarks should not be given much attention.
Compounding his party's discomfiture, Mr Deora, who is the Minister of State for Communication and IT and a Congress MP, had yesterday tweeted, "Mumbai's Aquarium and Zoo revamp further delayed. No progress on Girni Kamgar issue & Sewri-Nhava Sea Link. Severe decision deficit in Maha. (sic)"
However, he had added soon enough that his statement in no way cast aspersions on the sincerity of Maharashtra Chief Minister and his party senior Prithviraj Chavan. Speaking to NDTV, Mr Deora said he had the highest respect for Mr Chavan, whom he looked up to "professionally, personally and politically". "I'm not criticising the CM or the Maharashtra government in isolation. All parties in the state are not united, and do not focus on improving Mumbai...what bothers me is when I pick up the newspaper and read about how we are going to oppose the Bihar Divas," he said yesterday.
He had also tweeted against the Opposition saying, "political parties must support the Maharashtra government and the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) in identifying and expediting critical projects for Mumbai".
The Opposition in Maharashtra made political capital by selectively picking on the first part of Mr Deora's outburst; the BJP's Shaina NC said the Congress-NCP government did not proactively take any step on any issue, and small infrastructure projects had been suffering for the longest time.
Ally NCP was hurt. The party's Sachin Ahir, who is also the state's Housing Minister, hit out at him saying, "Since he is minister at the Centre, he looks down from Delhi and feels that we do not take decisions."
Mr Chavan has faced repeated accusations from political friends and foes alike that files don't move, causing avoidable delays in implementation of various government programmes.
Compounding his party's discomfiture, Mr Deora, who is the Minister of State for Communication and IT and a Congress MP, had yesterday tweeted, "Mumbai's Aquarium and Zoo revamp further delayed. No progress on Girni Kamgar issue & Sewri-Nhava Sea Link. Severe decision deficit in Maha. (sic)"
However, he had added soon enough that his statement in no way cast aspersions on the sincerity of Maharashtra Chief Minister and his party senior Prithviraj Chavan. Speaking to NDTV, Mr Deora said he had the highest respect for Mr Chavan, whom he looked up to "professionally, personally and politically". "I'm not criticising the CM or the Maharashtra government in isolation. All parties in the state are not united, and do not focus on improving Mumbai...what bothers me is when I pick up the newspaper and read about how we are going to oppose the Bihar Divas," he said yesterday.
He had also tweeted against the Opposition saying, "political parties must support the Maharashtra government and the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) in identifying and expediting critical projects for Mumbai".
The Opposition in Maharashtra made political capital by selectively picking on the first part of Mr Deora's outburst; the BJP's Shaina NC said the Congress-NCP government did not proactively take any step on any issue, and small infrastructure projects had been suffering for the longest time.
Ally NCP was hurt. The party's Sachin Ahir, who is also the state's Housing Minister, hit out at him saying, "Since he is minister at the Centre, he looks down from Delhi and feels that we do not take decisions."
Mr Chavan has faced repeated accusations from political friends and foes alike that files don't move, causing avoidable delays in implementation of various government programmes.
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