Maharashtra BJP government shielding corrupt ministers: Congress, NCP

In the legislative council, the demanded that the government should sack housing minister Prakash Mehta and industries minister Subhash Desai and constitute an inquiry against them

The allegations of corruption and irregularities against ministers is likely to be raised by the Opposition on the final day of the monsoon session of the state legislature on Friday. Thursday saw friction between the Opposition and ruling parties as the former accused the government of shielding corrupt ministers by not allowing a discussion on the same in the legislature.

In the legislative council, the demanded that the government should sack housing minister Prakash Mehta and industries minister Subhash Desai and constitute an inquiry against them. (FILE)

In the legislative council, the demanded that the government should sack housing minister Prakash Mehta and industries minister Subhash Desai and constitute an inquiry against them. “The government should constitute an inquiry, headed by a high court judge against the two ministers,”demanded the Opposition leader in the upper house, Dhananjay Munde.

Congress legislator Ashok (Bhai) Jagtap said the Opposition had given proof against 19 ministers earlier. “Now, two more ministers have been added to the list. Rather than taking action against them, the government has been shielding them. Now, almost half the ministers in this government are tainted,” Jagtap said.

Earlier, proceedings in the Maharashtra assembly were disrupted on Thursday as the Opposition Congress-NCP alleged that the government dropped the issue of corruption of its ministers from the day’s agenda because it wanted to shield its corrupt ministers.

As the ongoing monsoon session of Maharashtra legislature is in its last week, the Opposition wanted discussion on corruption charges against housing minister Mehta and industries minister Desai. However, on Thursday Opposition legislators alleged that the subject was dropped from the motion to be discussed in the assembly.

In protest, the Opposition members disrupted proceedings, demanding that they should be allowed to choose issues they want to be discussed. They also threatened to boycott the proceedings. The issue was raised by former speaker and senior NCP legislator Dilip Walse Patil.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis assured the Opposition that it will not happen again. He, however, added this is not the first time changes in the Opposition’s motion was made by the Speaker.

The development has come at a time two senior ministers of the Fadnavis government — Prakash Mehta and Subhash Desai — are facing charges of corruption and Opposition has been demanding their resignations and a probe into the allegations against them.