Fadnavis pacifies OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal over no place in cabinet
Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured him of OBC representation in the cabinet.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has filed an affidavit in the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court in reply to petitions against him in the multi-crore irrigation scam, terming the allegations as “mala fide”. In the affidavit filed on Tuesday, Pawar also said that there is no need for the present investigation to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation or the Enforcement Directorate.
The Director-General of the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau, in an affidavit filed in the High Court in December last year, had stated that the inquiry found Pawar to have no role in the alleged scam in the 12 projects undertaken by the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC).
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It was alleged that Pawar, then VIDC chairman, and officials of the corporation colluded with contractors while issuing tenders for projects, causing a loss to the exchequer.
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The petitioner, who has filed four public interest litigations in the alleged scam, had also filed an application in the High Court seeking CBI inquiry into the matter. The hearing of which is still going in the court and the next hearing is scheduled this week. On Tuesday, Pawar said the present affidavit is a common reply to the present civil application and similar other applications which are identical in nature.
“I have not indulged in any corrupt, motivated or mala fide act while discharging my duties as a minister. I state that I have as a minister or as ex-officio chairman of the VIDC, have followed all the rules and have discharged my public duties with a clear conscience and without fear, favour or illegal motives,” Pawar said in the affidavit.
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