Cong high command advises Maha minister Rajendra Darda to quit

Maharashtra minister Rajendra Darda, booked by CBI in coal block allotment scam, has been advised by Congress high command to tender his resignation.

Maharashtra minister Rajendra Darda, booked by CBI in coal block allotment scam, has been advised by Congress high command to tender his resignation.

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"The party high command has advised Rajendra Darda to quit," a senior party leader said hours after the minister clarified in Nashik that he no longer has any relation with the company booked by the investigative agency.

He was under pressure to quit after CBI filed an FIR against him in the coal block allotment scam.

The Maharashtra minister is the younger brother of Congress MP Vijay Darda who too has been named by CBI in the case.

Among the five companies named in the FIR registered yesterday is JLD Yavatmal which is said to be linked to the Darda family.

The Darda brothers, in association with the Abhijeet Group, also named in the FIR, planned to set up a thermal power project in Yavatmal for which they got the coal blocks. The project, named after the Dardas' father Jawaharlal Darda, never took off.