Nagpur: “The Bhartiya Janata Party government in the state in has given ‘clean chit’ to Pankaja Munde in Rs 200 crore alleged scam. It seems to be a hurriedly taken step, and thus quite deplorable. The government should have first ordered an impartial enquiry in the allegation,” remarked former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan while replying to the queries raised by journalists at the airport, here, on Friday.
Chavan had arrived here to participate in party-workers’ meet in the city. He further told the scribes that he was surprised at the developments surrounding Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde. According to him, as soon as Pankaja Munde came under the clouds of suspicion caused by alleged scam against her regarding purchases worth Rs 200 crore made under ICDS scheme without inviting e-tenders, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis just on the following day announced that there was no prima facie against her, and so there was no fault on her part. This is a gross mistake on the part of Fadnavis, he critically added.
Chavan criticised the BJP government for taking this issue so lightly despite its seriousness, and further said that as per High Court’s directives e-tendering should have been called for such a huge amount of purchase. On the question of Congress leaders involved in corruption charges, he replied that the so called corrupt person might be of any party, but the allegations must be probed deeply against him, rather than defending him or her at first hand information.
