Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is set to attend the World Economic Forum conference at Davos, Switzerland, between 16 and 19 January, where he is hoping to sign agreements worth Rs 3 lakh crore for the state, according to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
His visit, however, has been criticised by the Opposition, particularly the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), which is raising questions on the tour and its expenses.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, in a press conference Monday morning, questioned why the CM “needed 50 people in his delegation” and alleged that some of the delegates were taking their children to the Davos summit, turning it into a junket.
He also claimed that Shinde, who is visiting Davos for the second time as CM, was “hardly there for 28 hours last year” and the spending was a whopping Rs 40 crore.
Replying to the charges in an official note, the CMO clarified that Shinde was taking a delegation of 10 people which included Industries Minister Uday Samant. Eight other officials from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority would be travelling independently, it said, adding that private jets won’t be used in the trip.
Despite the CMO’s response, Aaditya raised questions on the funding of the trip and the number of delegates involved in a social media post Monday evening, stating that “we will be exploring all legal options to investigate this splurge”.
So after my press conference in the morning, the @CMOMaharashtra has finally issued a press note that gives a brief on the Davos junket of the illegal CM.
But
The questions still remain:
1) What will almost 50 people do on the tour? Do we release the names before they do?
2)…
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) January 15, 2024
ThePrint had earlier reported that expenses for Maharashtra’s last five delegations to Davos have surged and the size of the delegations has also ballooned each year.
Over the years, the amount spent by the state government on these trips went from Rs 63.28 lakh in 2015 — when then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis led a delegation to Davos — to Rs 32.31 crore in 2023 under Shinde, according to details of the cost incurred accessed by ThePrint under the Right to Information Act.
The delegation to Davos in 2023 turned out to be the state government’s most expensive so far.
The government had opted for the ‘Schneider’s House pavilion (Promenade 68 or P68)’. Spread across two floors, it had more than seven meeting rooms. Though the government was initially told that the approximate cost for hiring it would amount to Rs 10 crore plus taxes, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation records showed that it ended up costing Rs 16.3 crore.
Also, the government had spent Rs 1.89 crore chartering a private plane for the CM and some senior officials.
However, on Monday, the CMO stressed upon the investment figures and said that during last year’s visit, around Rs 1.37 lakh crore worth of deals had been signed, of which 76 per cent had materialised.
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On the cards in Davos
According to the CMO, Shinde will this year speak at Davos about urban development and its challenges, innovative ideas, and sustainable development.
On his first day there, the CM is expected to have meetings with foreign officials such as the industries minister of Oman, the finance minister of Saudi Arabia and power minister of South Africa
On the second day, 17 January, industrialist Gautam Adani will meet the CM and the latter is expected to deliver a speech on challenges in urban development. Shinde is then expected to sign MoUs with eight companies and hold meetings with delegates and officials from companies such as Dassault Systemes.
Overall, the CMO expects the state to get deals worth Rs 3 lakh crore in three days of Shinde’s visit.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)