Five BSS ministers’, including CM’s corruption cases raised in assembly

The spree began with CM Shinde himself, when the issue of illegal allotment of government land to 16 private parties came up in a high court PIL last week.

Nagpur: Five out of ten ministers from the Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena are facing corruption charges that erupted during the ongoing winter session of the assembly. The spree began with CM Shinde himself, when the issue of illegal allotment of government land to 16 private parties came up in a high court PIL last week. Subsequently, corruption charges have been raised in the assembly against four others over the last one week.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “It is strange that the Opposition has been raising corruption cases against ministers who were part of the previous Thackeray government. The corruption cases are all from that time.” (HT PHOTO)

Agriculture minister Abdul Sattar has been accused of allotting 37 acres of cattle-grazing land in Washim to a private party despite Supreme Court and state government orders against it. Food and drug administration minister Sanjay Rathod has also been charged with illegally allotting 10 acres of land worth ₹10 crore meant for grazing in Washim. The allotment was made in August 2019 when Rathod was minister of state for revenue in the Fadnavis government. The district collector had ordered action against the allottees for submitting fake documents, despite which the allotment was done by the minister.

Excise minister Shambhuraj Desai in his election affidavit allegedly hid the fact that his bungalow in Navali village in Mahabaleshwar had been constructed in an eco-sensitive zone while industries minister Uday Samant allegedly notified a liquor firm as a mega project despite the fact that this did not comply with rules.

Samant is also facing charges of having obtained a diploma for automobile engineering from Dnyaneshwar University in 1996. The university is unrecognised and the Bombay high court in 2006 said it had no right to award degrees. “It is shocking that the minister passed the order to regularise these fake universities when he was higher and technical minister in the previous government. Samant’s degree is bogus. Apart from his degree, the declaration related to his land and car has flaws, and we have moved a Pune court against it,” said Abhishek Haridas of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyapeeth Sena.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “It is strange that the Opposition has been raising corruption cases against ministers who were part of the previous Thackeray government. The corruption cases are all from that time.”