State BJP unit has accused the chief minister Prithviraj Chavan of suppressing the probe into the alleged irrigation scam. The party alleged that the ruling democratic government doesn’t want the skeletons to tumble out of its closet.
Senior party leader and leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Vinod Tawde has sought a clarification from the chief minister on whether the government really intends to accept the evidence related to the irrigation scam, as it had claimed in an affidavit that was submitted to the Bombay high court.
“The state government had submitted an affidavit to the high court that the committee probing the charges will accept all the evidence related to the scam from any person. But, when I tried to submit such documents to Dr Madhavrao Chitale committee, the government refused to accept those,” Mr Tawde said, adding, “Hence, I wrote a letter to advocate general Darius Khambatta asking why the Chitale Committee was not accepting the evidence, if the government had submitted an affidavit in the high court stating that the committee probing the matter will accept evidence related to the scam.”
Mr Tawde claimed that he had substantial proof, that could prove that the scam took place in the irrigation department. “I have the proof on how the scam took place and related documents on the subsequent cost escalation in various irrigation projects, but the state government is not interested in unearthing the scam,” the BJP leader said.
After the revelation of the alleged `70,000 crore scam in the irrigation projects through non-rational cost escalation, the state government last year formed the high power committee to investigate the charges headed by Dr Chitale, who is an international expert in water resources and management. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s name also cropped up in the alleged scam after which he resigned from the minister’s post, but came back to the Cabinet within a span of six months.