CM Fadnavis' photos on flood relief material irks Opposition

A day after Maharashtra state minister Girish Mahajan faced flak over his 'flood selfies', the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was again at the receiving end of the Opposition on Saturday due to pictures of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis affixed on relief material for flood victims.

Stickers with pictures of Fadnavis and BJP MLA from Ichalkaranji, Suresh Halvankar were affixed on relief material being supplied to lakhs of flood-hit people in Sangli and Kolhapur.

The stickers say "Government of Maharashtra, Free for the families of flood victims of August 2019 floods, Rice and Wheat" - with pictures of both Fadnavis and Halvankar, along with names of party activists Samir Shingte and Sudhakar Bhosale.

Former Congress minister and current MLC Satej Patil alleged this was an attempt to seek credit for the government and alleged that "the BJP workers may have been told fix these stickers secretly" on the relief material.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also lashed out at the BJP for the stickers on relief material and said that the ruling party "has crossed all limits of decency and were playing a cruel joke on the flood-hit people" in the state.

Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana chief Raju Shetti it was "disgusting" and that the government will go to any lengths to get publicity.

"It is not proper to advertise like this on government-supplied relief materials. The people of the state will teach them an appropriate lesson," Shetti said.

Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Dhanjay Munde hit out at the BJP demanding the government should declared what were its real priorities.

"They didn't provide aid to the flood-hit for two days so that they could get time to design and print stickers with their pictures on it? For this show-off, they will keep the people hungry," Munde said.

The issue has embarrassed the BJP a day after Mahajan's videos clicking selfies while laughing and waving in a jovial manner hit social media on Friday. IANS