Mumbai: BJP leader and Maharashtra Minister for Water Conservation Pankaja Munde faced backlash on social media after she posted selfies from her visit to drought-stricken Latur district on Sunday.
She was on a visit to Latur to review river rejuvenation work and water conservation projects undertaken by the government. Munde was pictured smiling with a trench surrounded by parched land in the background.
Selfie with trench of said barrage Manjara .. one relief to latur .. pic.twitter.com/r49aEVxSSk
— PankajaGopinathMunde (@Pankajamunde) April 17, 2016
While the minister praised the work being undertaken, many netizens felt the photos were in bad taste and the minister should have refrained from taking selfies in a land where people are of dying for the want of water.
Insensitivity #BJP Leaders can't be more profound.#PankajaMunde takes pride in taking Selfie in drought hit #Latur pic.twitter.com/H4jKXcqJqw
— Maharashtra Congress (@mahcongress) April 18, 2016
The Congress party too attacked Munde and accused BJP of making a 'mockery' of the drought situation in the state. "BJP as a whole is a selfie and optics party, this is like making a mockery of the drought," said Congress.
Read: Took selfies in drought-hit Latur to appreciate relief work, clarifies Pankaja Munde
Even ally Shiv Sena wasn't impressed with the Minister's photos and called the incident 'unfortunate'.
Reviewed the pipeline work at Latur to take water from Rail wagons for distribution ahead to Latur citizens pic.twitter.com/hlLKTNluwQ
— PankajaGopinathMunde (@Pankajamunde) April 17, 2016
Munde, however, did not react to the criticism and instead focused on continuing with her work. She put more photos from the visit to the drought-hit region, where she chaired a pre-Kharif crop review meeting to discuss seed supply, crop pattern and irrigation with senior government officials.
