The Maharashtra BJP on Monday stepped up the offensive against the Congress-led DF Government on the multi-thousand crore irrigation scam, by presenting 14,000 pages of “evidence” to the Madhav Chitale inquiry committee, at Aurangabad.
led by its State unit president Devendra Fadnavis and leader of the Opposition in the State legislative Council Vinod Tawde, the BJP carried the “evidence” in four bags on a bullock cart in a morcha from Kanchanwadi to the office of water expert Dr Madhav Chitale, who is heading a probe by the Special Investigation Team probing the multi-thousand crore scam.
The Chitale-headed SIT , it may be recalled, was set up by the Maharashtra in December last year, after the BJP-led Opposition demanded a high-level probe into the irrigation scam, allegedly involving Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
Talking to media persons after submitting a bullock cart load of “evidence” to Chitale, Favnavis and Tawde said that they had presented “proof” of alleged irregularities, involving bureaucrats and ministers, in the award of irrigation contracts in the state. The “evidence” presented to the committee included the awarding of irrigation contracts worth Rs 34,000 crore in the run-up to the 2009 state Assembly polls.
Fadnavis and Tawde said that they would submit some more proof to the Chitale –headed SIT in next 15 days. “We demanded that the SIT should go to bottom and nail the bureaucrats and politicians involved in the scam,” they said.
On his part, Dr Chitale said that he would examine the “evidence” that came under the purview of the terms of reference set up for the committee headed by him.
The BJP leaders’ move to present a cart load of “evidence” on the irrigation scam comes in the wake of a directive by Maharashtra chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan to the Chitale committee to accept the written submissions made by the Opposition and individuals. The chief minister gave directive to the Chitale committee after he received an advice to that effect from State Advocate General Darius Khambata.
Ajitdada, as Ajit Pawar is known in the state political circles, has over a year been in the eye of the irrigation scam. So much so that Ajitdada had caused a major stir in the state in the state political circles in September last year, by resigning from his post as the deputy chief minister.
Ajitdada’s resignation had come in the wake of media reports on the alleged irregularities in the awarding of 38 irrigation contracts worth Rs 20,000 crore in Vidarbha region during 2009, without seeking the mandatory clearance from the governing council of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC).