Will abide by CM, party's decision: Maha BJP minister Mehta

Targeted by Opposition for alleged corruption, Maharashtra Housing Minister Prakash Mehta today said he will accept the decision of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP high command over his fate.
"The chief minister is capable of taking the right decision. Whatever decision the CM and the party take, it is obvious that I will abide by it," Mehta told reporters here.
He was replying when asked if he would resign following Opposition's demand for his ouster.
As to his decision pertaining to a slum redevelopment scheme in Ghatkopar, he said the scheme had been approved in 1996 by the then housing minister.

A government resolution back then mentioned that the work of redevelopment should be awarded to Nirmal holdings, Mehta said, adding that this was unprecedented, as never before a redevelopment work was awarded to a specific company in this way.
He was trying to safeguard the interests of slum dwellers who lived in his erstwhile constituency, Mehta said.

"Any decision pertaining to redevelopment has not been taken yet, so why is the Opposition levelling unsubstantiated allegations against me?" he asked.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Congress) had alleged two days ago that Mehta wrongly allotted a plot in Ghatkopar to Nirmal Holdings which was later taken back by the state government.

Mehta, MLA from Ghatkopar in Mumbai, is already facing an inquiry ordered by the chief minister for allegedly violating norms in a slum redevelopment project in south Mumbai.
Vikhe Patil today made another allegation saying that Mehta's company Shri Sai Nidhi Pvt Ltd had undertaken an SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority) project in Ghatkopar, where names of Mehta's son Harsh and his relatives were inserted as existing tenants.
"Mehta used his influence to get flats for his relatives. This is a conflict of interest," Vikhe Patil said.
Asked about this allegation, Metha's cryptic reply to reporters was: "I have only one wife and I don't intend to change her name".

The BJP minister first came under fire for allowing unauthorised transfer of extra building (development) rights in a SRA project in south Mumbai. He allowed transfer of extra development rights, originally granted to slum-dwellers, to another project, to favour a developer, it was alleged.