Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari barred from boarding govt aircraft

Mumbai: Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was denied permission to use a state government aircraft to travel to Dehradun on Thursday, triggering a row and inviting a strong criticism from the opposition BJP which sought an apology over the incident.

Koshyari was scheduled to travel by a state government aircraft to Dehradun, but the permission to use the plane was not granted even as the governor had boarded the aircraft, sources said. The governor later took a commercial flight to travel to the capital of his home state of Uttarakhand, a statement from the Raj Bhavan said.

The Raj Bhavan secretariat and the state government sought to blame each other for the incident, which added a new chapter in the uneasy ties between the ruling coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress, and the governor.

The Raj Bhavan statement said the governor's secretariat had written to the government authorities seeking permission for the use of the aircraft "well in advance" on February 2. The office of the chief minister was also informed about it, the statement said.

However, the Maharashtra government said the Raj Bhavan secretariat had been informed a day earlier by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) that approval for use of the official aircraft has not been given.

A statement from the CMO said the state government had taken serious cognizance that the official concerned at Raj Bhavan did not apprise the governor about the communication from the government (denying nod to use the aircraft).