- MUMBAI: Offended by journalists discussing unrelated issues at the press briefing held after the weekly Cabinet meeting, Prithviraj Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra, told journalists that they should restrict themselves to asking questions on issues that were discussed in the Cabinet meeting and not ask about other unrelated matters.
Speaking at a press briefing after his first council of ministers’ meeting on Saturday evening, Chavan, who was accompanied by the state’s deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar, angrily told journalists that he would only respond to questions regarding issues discussed at the Cabinet meeting.
“I would like to state that I and Ajit Pawar are keen to brief the media after Cabinet meetings strictly on the condition that journalists do not raise questions on any topic they like, as they have been doing so in the past. This kind of questioning is not and would not be acceptable henceforth,” he said.
Chavan said it was necessary to set a ground rule first, that there are norms and ethics in journalism, and that if journalist deviate from the rule then press briefings would be discontinued.
Journalists were further taken by surprise when Chavan said he would wind up briefings in less than 10 minutes; the chief minister also failed to give Pawar an opportunity to interact with the media. What was even more of a surprise was when Chavan refused to speak to TV reporters in Hindi, opting for Marathi instead.
Perhaps Chavan wanted to hijack the Marathi pride issue from Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which have been championing this issue for some time. Some say that Chavan’s use of Marathi and the oaths that were taken in the language by all of the 40 ministers of the combine Congress and its alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party, in the Marathi language indicates that Chavan wants to attract and appease Marathi people.
Vilasrao Deshmukh, the former chief minister of Maharashtra and present federal minister, had discontinued the press briefings after being asked uncomfortable questions. His successor, Chavan, who then revived the practice, stopped the briefings a few months later as he too did not wish to be asked inconvenient media questions.
The reason why the new chief minister is annoyed with journalists is unknown, but a senior Congress minister said Chavan was advised by the Congress high command not to reveal too much to the media.
In an interview with a Marathi news channel, Pawar said he enjoys cordial relations with all journalists, but said he feels he needs to draw closer to journalists in Mumbai with whom he has little rapport.