E-Paper
‘Social justice minister must resign over graft charges’
Social justice minister Shivajirao Moghe has come under attack by the Opposition in the state Assembly on Monday over allegations of corruption made against him in a Yavatmal court petition.
Social justice minister Shivajirao Moghe has come under attack by the Opposition in the state Assembly on Monday over allegations of corruption made against him in a Yavatmal court petition.
Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse demanded Moghe’s resignation accusing him of accepting a bribe of Rs42 lakh from Ainuddin Solanki for getting government sanction to start an ashram (tribal) school and a Marathi medium D.Ed college at Yavatmal in 2000 and 2001.
Moghe was the then transport minister. He denied the charges terming it as a politically motivated conspiracy.
The Yavatmal court, last week, had directed the police to probe the criminal complaint made by Solanki and file a report on it within two months.
Khadse told the Assembly, “The complainant even has receipts from the transport department proving that Rs12 lakh had been accepted from Solanki for setting up of an ashram school and Rs30 lakh for a D.Ed college a year later.”
Moghe in his reply said that he was being implicated in a fake corruption case.
“That receipt is forged. In 2000-01, the government had no such scheme that granted sanction for ashram school or college on payment of a premium,’’ said Moghe.
He added that Solanki did not have any such society registered in his name until 2004. “If anything is found in the probe, I am willing to retire from my political career,” he said.
