Fadnavis faces music over video on saving Mumbai's rivers

Amid a major campaign to revive the four dying rivers of Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seems to be facing the music.

The chief minister has come under sharp criticism for a video that has a song calling for support to save Mumbai's four rivers - Poisar, Dahisar, Oshiwara and Mithi.

Known as the Mumbai River Anthem, the song features Fadnavis's wife Amruta Fadnavis, a banker by profession and playback singer Sonu Nigam.

The others featured in the video include Finance, Planning and Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta and Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar.

The BJP and Fadnavis has come under sharp criticism from the Opposition parties- the Congress, NCP, MNS and AAP – for the video.

"Participation in the video by the IAS officer (Mehta) and IPS officer (Padsalgikar) is violation of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules. Besides part of it was shot in the Chief Minister's official residence and the core area of Sanjay Gandhi National Park," said Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant.

"I have nothing against the chief minister singing, but the way a police commissioner and municipal commissioner are made to stand like a chorus is an insult to them and to the institutions which they represent," said NCP MLA Dr Jitendra Awhad.

"To further her singing career, Amruta Fadnavis has used the chief minister, and senior civic and police officials and also the chief minister's official residence Varsha, where part of the video was shot," said AAP's national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Memon.

The Chief Minister's Office, however, clarified that the video has been made for a social cause and is a private initiative and the government has not spend a single rupee on the video.