To a question in the Maharashtra Assembly on allegations of corruption in the sale of co-operative sugar mills, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday said all four inquiries in this regard — and two of them held during the regime of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — have found no wrongdoing .
During question hour, BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar asked about the allegations made by social worker Anna Hazare who in a latter had alleged corruption worth ₹25,000 crore. As the Opposition BJP MLAs objected to the evasive written answer and demanded a detailed reply from Cooperation Minister Balasaheb Patil, Mr. Pawar said such allegations are aimed at creating misunderstanding.
“When such allegations were made, Devendra Fadnavis was the Chief Minister and he ordered CID probe and nothing came out of it. Again, he ordered an inquiry through the Anti–Corruption Bureau. Still, nothing came out of it,” said Mr. Pawar.
The Minister said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government too ordered an inquiry by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and simultaneously, a retired judge was appointed for investigation. “Even these two probes yielded no corruption,” he said.
Appealing to the Opposition to stop making wild allegations, Mr. Pawar said making such false claims is easy but none of those who make such statements came forward to run the mills. “One needs to understand the business before reaching out to conclusions,” he said.
Mr. Pawar asked the Cooperation Minister to meet Mr. Hazare and inform the social worker about all the inquiries held and the outcomes.
