The ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra is being cornered not just by the state’s Opposition parties but by its partner, the Congress, for its alleged role in the irregularities and scams.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, who had carried out a Sangharsh Yatra when Sharad Pawar was chief minister ahead of the 1995 Assembly elections, has announced a state-wide yatra, “Maharashtra Bachao, Congress-NCP government hatao”.
Munde has also stated he will reveal alleged irregularities in the state power sector which was held by NCP leader Ajit Pawar during 2009-2012.
In the backdrop of allegations against the state government, NCP chief and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had held a meeting with senior ministers and party leaders last week. NCP leaders decided to concentrate more on strengthening the party and go all out in denying ‘baseless’ allegations against ministers and party leaders. Further, to chalk out future course of action, the state NCP unit will organise a two-day workshop on October 20 and 21 in Pune, in the presence of Pawar.
Ajit Pawar has already stepped down as the deputy chief minister following allegations of his role in the multi-crore irrigation scam in the Vidarbha region during 1999-2009, when he was the water resources minister.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who belongs to the Congress, does not leave any opportunity to checkmate the NCP. He has announced a probe against 45 officials of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) to look into charges of cost escalation and illegal payment of advances to contractors.
Chavan has also reiterated that the government was firm to bring out a white paper on mere addition of 0.1 per cent of irrigation potential, despite spending Rs 70,000 crore during 1999 and 2009.
Ajit Pawar, who has outrightly denied charges of corruption and malpractices, has launched state-wide tour to plead his case and also clarify the NCP’s stand before the public. However, it will be an acid test for him to come out clean and get enough numbers in the next assembly elections slated for 2014, to become the chief minister.
Another leader of the NCP, public works minister Chhagan Bhujbal, has been dubbed by opposition as Maharashtra’s Robert Vadra for his alleged involvement in land deals. Bhujbal is currently being investigated by the state anti-corruption bureau in the multi-crore Maharashtra Sadan scam.
The opposition has fired a fresh salvo against Bhujbal for allegedly accepting kickbacks from real estate firms to award PWD contracts. These kickbacks were routed through companies owned by Bhujbal’s family to buy land.
Documents from the Registrar of Companies and bank accounts details reveal that a partnership firm, Blue Circle Infratech, was formed in 2006. The company, in a series of transactions, gave an advance of Rs 34.48 crore to Parvesh Construction, Rs 5.48 crore in 2007 and Rs 29 crore on April 23, 2010.
Parvesh Construction is owned by Bhujbal’s son Pankaj and nephew Sameer. However, Bhujbal has rebutted the allegation, saying that it was a vilification campaign initiated by the opposition to malign his image.
Moreover, water resources minister Sunil Tatkare, who is a close confidant of Ajit Pawar, has been made respondent in a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court filed by the BJP over allegations of land grab, money laundering and disproportionate assets. The Opposition has sought a special investigation team under the court to investigate the matter in a specific time-frame.
The other respondents in the case are Tatkare’s family members and various government agencies. The main allegation is that Tatkare formed companies in the name of relatives and employees to grab land and launder money in Raigad.
Sharad Pawar has stepped in to defend Bhujbal and Tatkare.
Last week, it was the turn of higher and technical education minister Rajesh Tope to be on the spot light after his wife Manisha Tope was among the 34 people booked for allegedly forging land documents.
A case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against Manisha and others, including developers from Jalna, Hyderabad, Mumbai besides the officials of department of Land Records who allegedly sanctioned construction activity on the 13-acre of land owned by Shaikh Hamid Fakir Mohammad, a resident of Shakuntla village in Tope’s home district Jalna in the Marathwada region.
Although Tope has agreed that his wife has a 10 per cent investment in the project, he denied the allegations of forgery.