Congress slams Maharashtra minister over selfie in Latur

New Delhi, April 18 The Congress on Monday slammed Maharashtra's Water Conservation Minister Pankaja Munde for taking a selfie during her visit to the drought-hit Latur region.

"Selfie tourism is not the answer to the problems of the Marathwada region of Maharashtra," Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi told IANS here. 

"It is extremely unfortunate and reflective of the Maharashtra government's mindset whereby they think selfie/disaster/drought tourism is the answer to all the problems Marathwada is facing."

Chaturvedi's remarks came after Munde shared her selfies in a series of tweets on Sunday while reviewing water conservation efforts in Latur.

"Selfie with trench of said barrage Manjara... one relief to Latur...," Munde tweeted on Sunday. 

"Water conservation is happening massively... isn't it samwedana for duskhal," she wrote in another tweet. 

Taking a dig at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Chaturvedi said: "Munde's actions also reflect government priorities whereby they like to promote more and do less for the people of Maharashtra. There has been no word from the chief minister over the disaster (drought) and selfie tourism of its cabinet ministers. It shows there is no accountability on part of the entire cabinet."

She alleged that Fadnavis does not have control over his ministers. "It seems the chief minister doesn't have any authority to seek accountability from such ministers," the Congress spokesperson said.

"Earlier, Maharshtra's Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse wasted thousands of litres of water just to get a helipad constructed for his chopper to land as he was doing disaster tourism," Chaturvedi added.

The Marathwada region is facing severe drought this year and the Centre has arranged special water trains to transport water to Latur.