Maharashtra: CM gave clean chit to four ministers despite graft proof, says Ajit Pawar

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], December 30 (ANI): Maharashtra’s Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Ajit Pawar, on Friday expressed his ‘dissatisfaction’ over Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s speech in the House on the last day of the Winter Session.

Pawar hit out at the state government saying that it gave the four ministers a ‘clean chit’ despite ‘proof’ of their involvement in corruption. “We have shared proof of corruption by the four ministers with the CM but he decided to give a clean chit to all of them. Had he been in the Opposition, he would have demanded their resignations,” the senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former deputy chief minister said.

Addressing the House on the last day of the Winter Session, Shinde responded to the motion tabled by the Opposition in the last week of the session.

To the Opposition’s demand for a discussion on Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s remark on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, calling him an ‘old idol’, the CM had said, “You criticised us of insulting our greats. But who asked the descendants of Shivaji Maharaj to prove that they were, indeed, so?

You could not put up the portraits of Mahatma Phule and Savitribai Phule in the House but we did. We were the ones who put up a portrait of Balasaheb Thackeray in the Assembly. We are extending assistance to the people through the Chief Minister’s Medical Aid Fund.”

He further said the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) will continue to fight upcoming elections in alliance with the BJP.

“Once this government completes its term, we and the BJP will fight the next Assembly elections together. We will open a Chief Minister’s office at the district level.

The Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020 (which proposes the death penalty for certain crimes such as acid attacks, rape and gangrape), has been sent to the Centre for its assent. It will take a call on the proposed amendments shortly,” Shinde said.

The Winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die on Friday.