Maharashtra BJP leader gets a taste of five-star arrogance

MUMBAI - Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and legislator Vinod Tawade got a taste of five-star arrogance outside a luxury hotel here Saturday afternoon.

Trying to give bites to some television reporters on the new state government and tourism related issues on a pavement outside the hotel, Tawade was reportedly asked to move on by a hotel manager, leading to an ugly spat.

According to Tawade, he had come out of a meeting from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Santacruz when some assembled reporters of TV channels approached him for his views on the new state government and tourism-related issues.

“When I came out and stood on the road outside the hotel, a manager very rudely ordered me not stand there and move off,” Tawade, state BJP general secretary, told IANS as the entire episode was recorded live by a private TV channel crew.

Flaring up at the offending tone of the manager, Tawade retorted. “Yeh jagah tumhare baap ki nahin hai, (This place is not owned by your father),” Tawade said as some other pedestrians came and supported him.

He asserted that he was a tax-paying citizen and had every right to stand on the road, which did not belong to the hotel authorities.

Later, the top officials of the hotel, including the CEO and others, arrived on the scene and profusely apologised after learning of Tawade’s political credentials.

Tawade claimed that other locals have complained about the high-handed behavior of the hotel authorities who do not allow people to move freely or stand on the road beside the property.