Water Minister Girish Mahajan under fire for flood selfie in Kolhapur

State Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan waded into the middle of a controversy on Friday as a video surfaced showing him waving happily at the camera while in a rescue boat in Kolhapur, which is grappling with heavy flooding.

The senior BJP leader's smiling clip, in which he is also seen taking a selfie with some government officials accompanying him, was shot while he was apparently "taking stock" of the grave situation in Kolhapur and Sangli.

It couldn't have come at a worse time. Recent flooding across Maharashtra has claimed 29 so far, with chunks of Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Solapur and Pune districts submerged under water.

Twelve rescue teams of the Navy, eight of the National Disaster Relief Force, two of Coast Guard and one of Army have been deployed in Sangli district, in addition to those present in Kolhapur.

While social media panned Mahajan for his "frivolous" video, the Opposition has demanded his resignation, calling it "insensitive", and the people in Sangli raged over his government's failure to provide them relief.

Another minister from the ruling BJP, Subhash Deshmukh, the guardian minister of Sangli district, also drew flak from the citizens for his absence from the rescue and relief operation. Deshmukh was at a booth committee meeting in Pune when people were marooned in the midst of the spate in Sangli.

Stock-Taking Or Shot-Taking?

Large-Scale Damage
At least 29 people have died due to monsoon floods across five Maharashtra districts
More than 2 lakh people have been evacuated to safety from Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara
Nearly 30,000 animals have been shifted to safer locations
267 temporary camps have been set up for flood-hit people
Large tracts of soy, sugarcane and paddy crops damaged
NDRF, Navy, Coast Guard, Army personnel engaged in widespread rescue effort
On Thursday, a resuce boat ferrying people to safety capsized in Sangli, claiming two

To control the damage, Mahajan went on the offensive, tweeting another photo where he is seen helping people. "If the opposition gets some time off from criticising and trolling me on social media, then they should come out of their houses to help the flood-hit people. In the last four days, I have visited places where no one has come to help these stranded people," he tweeted.

State BJP president Chandrakant Patil said a word in defence of Mahajan, but with the caveat that taking selfies in catastrophic situations was like disease and Mahajan was had also been infected by it.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray accused BJP ministers of arrogance, saying the party is good at electioneering and event management but has failed to help the people.. "They know they are going to get elected despite all their arrogant acts. So they are not bothered about the people. This shows their casual attitude to natural disasters. We need to teach them a lesson or everything will be taken for granted," Thackeray said.

State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant slammed Mahajan's "flood tourism". "This video has exposed the real face of the BJP minister. He is insensitive towards people's plight. He was busy poaching Opposition MLAs, flaunting guns before school kids and running after a leopard with a gun. He should be made the brand ambassador of flood tourism," criticised Sawant.