Mumbai Congress releases booklets on 'corruption in BJP'

A day before Congress President Rahul Gandhi's visit to Maharashtra, the Mumbai Congress on Monday released booklets "exposing deep-rooted corruption" in the state's ruling Bharatiya Janta Party-Shiv Sena combine.

The booklets detail alleged scams against several state government ministers worth hundreds or thousands of crores of rupees while the common people continue to suffer.

Releasing the booklets, Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam listed the names of Women & Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde in the Rs 206 crore Chikki "scam", Cooperatives Minister Subhash Deshmukh in the Rs 110 crore Lokmangal "scam" and Housing Minister Prakash Mehta in the Rs 500-800 crore FSI "scam".

The list includes Education Minister Vinod Tawde in the Rs 191 crore fire extinguisher "scam", Food & Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat allegedly involved in a Rs 4,000 crore "scam", and Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Savara in the Rs 300 crore employment department "scam" and the Rs 6,000 crore raincoats "scam".

"These figures show that it is only the government which is living 'achhe din' they promised to the people and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is refraining from taking any action against the corrupt," Nirupam said.

Other booklets include alleged corruption at the centre and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), controlled by the ruling ally Shiv Sena.

Nirupam said the BMC claims to have spent Rs 2,605 crore on waste management, Rs 3,311 crore on health, Rs 2,311 crore on education, Rs 5,061 on water supply and Rs 3,286 crore on roads and skywalks, but sought to know the "actual amounts spent on development as the Mumbaikars continue to suffer".

"Corruption is the mutual belief shared by the BJP leaders at every level. It is extremely disheartening to watch the innocent people who voted form them in the past are now paying the price. We plan to create awareness among the people about such corrupt leaders.." he told media persons.

On the Narendra Modi-led Central government, he noted that the Prime Minister has spent almost Rs 4,300 crors on publicity alone and "clearly, this amount has been used to hide all the wrongdoings of the BJP government".

The booklet details other failures of the Central government like the lowest agricultural growth (1.9 percent) under the BJP compared to 4.2 percent during the Congress rule, failure in waiving off farm loans, continued scams in banks, soaring fuel prices, ineffectiveness in controlling Maoist attacks and the growing violence against the scheduled casts and others in society.

On Tuesday, Gandhi will arrive for a court hearing in Bhiwandi, Thane in a defamation case filed by a RSS worker and later address a rally of over 16,000 booth-level Congress workers in Mumbai.

This will mark the launch of a national endeavour, 'Project Shakti' by which the Congress President will establish direct communication between the grassroots workers and the party's central leadership.

--IANS

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