Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha govt removes Fadnavis' aide from post of CIDCO chairman

Taking a big decision on Wednesday, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray has removed former CM Devendra Fadnavis' close aide remark from the post of chairman of City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). The maha Aghadi government took the decision after the first cabinet meeting held on January 7. The government has also cancelled Fadnavis' govt's move to appoint 300 technical directors in APMC markets.

The BJP MLA Prashant Thakur was the chairman of CIDCO, which is building the Navi Mumbai international airport with a private player. An order cancelling appointment of Thakur was issued by the state Urban Development Department. Thakur, who represents Panvel assembly seat in Raigad district bordering Mumbai, had quit the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections. He was appointed to the board of CIDCO and was later made its chairman on September 4, 2018 by then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Thakur retained his seat in the 2019 Assembly polls.

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The greenfield international airport is a public-private partnership venture in which the GVK-led Mumbai International Airport has a 74 per cent stake with Cidco, the Maharashtra government's nodal agency for the project, holding the remaining 26 per cent.
Apart from handling the construction work of Navi Mumbai Airport, under a whopping budget of Rs 16000 crore, CIDCO is also undertaking several metro and city projects.

Fadnavis laments Uddhav's inaction over 'Free Kashmir' placard in Mumbai, questions intent

Controversy over Uddhav's JNU statement

CM Thackeray on Monday condemned the violence which broke out at JNU on Sunday and made a controversial comparison. Uddhav Thackeray in a huge statement compared the incident which happened on the campus of JNU with the "26/11 terror attacks" in Mumbai. He said that the students were feeling "unsafe". Uddhav Thackery also called the masked attackers at JNU "cowards" and said their identity should be revealed.

After a ‘Free Kashmir’ placard surfaced during a protest in Mumbai's Gateway of India, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis hit out at Uddhav Thackeray for not taking any action. Citing the placard, Fadnavis raised doubts about the real intent of the protests. He questioned CM Thackeray on whether he would continue to tolerate such a separatist activity merely 2 km away from the Chief Minister’s Office. 

READ: "Attack on JNU reminds me of 26/11 terror attack," says CM Uddhav Thackeray

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