Internal strife within the ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra came out in the open in the Assembly on Thursday when BJP legislator Ameet Satam asked School Education Minister and Shiv Sena leader Dada Bhuse to explain the delay in the implementation of the Mukhyamantri Vidyarthi Vigyan Vari scheme.
Under the scheme, the Maharashtra government plans to send 51 students every year to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters in the U.S. According to the government decision, students presenting the top 21 projects at tehsil-level competitions will get to visit a science centre in their division, those who created the top 51 projects at district-level competitions will be taken to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru, and 51 State-level finalists will be taken to NASA.
“Now, the government has brought this policy. It has been approved. A few months ago, Minister of State for School Education Pankaj Bhoyar [of the BJP] had sent a letter on June 4. The Chief Minister had endorsed it. Then why has it taken so many months to implement it? That was my question,” Mr. Satam said.
In response, Mr. Bhuse said, “As a responsible Minister, I should not be disclosing everything here. But I will since it is being portrayed as if I am stalling the scheme. The prize money was hiked from ₹5,000 to ₹51,000, to which the State Planning Department raised objections.”
