BackMaharashtra assembly rocked by corruption charges against minister, IAS officer
Both the houses of the Maharashtra legislature were rocked on Wednesday by corruption charges against housing minister Prakash Mehta, IAS officer Radhyesham Mopalwar
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Mumbai: Both the houses of the Maharashtra legislature were rocked on Wednesday by corruption charges against senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Maharashtra housing minister Prakash Mehta and IAS officer Radhyesham Mopalwar.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan led the opposition charge in the assembly raising questions over chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s credibility and his claims of a “transparent administration". Chavan demanded that both Mehta and Mopalwar be sacked and an inquiry be initiated against them. Fadnavis ordered a probe against Mopalwar that would be completed within a month. The chief minister has already initiated a probe into charges against Mehta in a building project under the state’s Slum Rehabilitation Aurhority (SRA). Fadnavis said if found guilty, Mopalwar, who is the vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corp. (MSRDC), would be removed.
Fadnavis, however, launched a counterattack on Chavan reminding his predecessor that all the corruption charges against Mopalwar were in fact levelled when the Congress-NCP alliance was in power. Chavan and Fadnavis are mild-mannered politicians but on Wednesday both indulged in an unusual exchange of angry charges and counter-charges. Chavan asked Fadnavis how he managed to get a proper sleep when corrupt ministers and officials were looting the state. Fadnavis hit back saying the charges against Mopalwar date back to the Congress-NCP regime and asked Chavan if he as the then chief minister slept over those corruption scandals.
Marathi news channels on Tuesday aired an audio clip of an alleged conversation between Mopalwar and an unidentified person over some land deal. Chavan and NCP leader Ajit Pawar in the assembly and leader of the opposition in the legislative council Dhananjay Munde alleged that Mopalwar was clearly heard demanding bribe to regularise the land deal. The opposition leaders pointed out that the MSRDC under Mopalwar was the nodal agency for Fadnavis’s dream project of Mumbai-Nagpur expressway for which thousands of acres of land was being acquired. “If such an official is heading the MSRDC and implementing the expressway project, what is the guarantee that the project would be free from corruption," asked Munde.
Fadnavis told the council that the audio clip would be sent to the forensic laboratory for voice identification and “strictest action" would be taken against Mopalwar if found guilty.
Prakash Mehta, who is into his sixth term as the BJP legislator from Mumbai’s Ghatkopar constituency, has triggered a big controversy by his dubious remarks as the housing minister over a file involving an SRA building project in Tardeo area of South Mumbai. Mehta approved the project writing a remark that he had apprised the chief minister even after the additional chief secretary, housing, had pointed out that the project would result in a windfall gain of nearly Rs500 crore to the builder. When social activists and housing experts raised an alarm, the chief minister rejected the proposal and also pulled up Mehta.
After the controversy broke out and the opposition sought Fadnavis’s response, Mehta told the assembly on Monday that he had not actually informed the chief minister and had acted on his own. On Monday, Fadnavis ordered an inquiry into the entire project. A BJP minister, who did not wish to be named, said the chief minister has briefed the BJP central leadership on Mehta. “Party president Amitbhai Shah has given clear instructions to all BJP state governments to not tolerate corruption charges against any minister. That is why we took action against Eknath Khadse last year," said the BJP minister.
Khadse, one of the senior most BJP leader in Maharashtra, was made to resign in June last year after he was accused of misuse of ministerial office for a land deal involving his family. A probe panel instituted last year has submitted its report to Maharashtra chief secretary Sumit Mullick.
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