Congress leaders address media persons at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, Mumbai. Amit Chakravarty
The Congress on Monday raised allegations against Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis questioning his role in a multi-crore land deal near Mumbai.
The allegations come just two days ahead of the monsoon session of the state legislature. Raising allegations against Fadnavis in the “parcelling out” of a 24-acre state-owned prime plot in Kharghar near Mumbai to a private builder, the Congress has sought a judicial inquiry by two sitting judges of the Bombay High Court in the entire episode. It has demanded an inquiry even into the role played by the Chief Minister and the Urban Development department, he heads, in the matter.
Embattled by the attack on its top leader in Maharashtra, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to mount a counter-offensive. While state BJP spokesperson, Madhav Bhandari refuted the Congress allegations and accused the opposition party of running a “misleading smear” campaign against Fadnavis, party legislator Prasad Lad, who is seen as the CM’s close aide and whose name was also dragged in the controversy, has threatened to file a Rs 500 crore defamation suit against the Congress.
Accusations against Fadnavis were raised during a Congress press conference held in Mumbai where official documents in this regard were also released. Former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, Congress’s communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam levelled allegations against Fadnavis and the state government during the conference.
Documents show that on February 26, 2018, the Raigad Collector’s office allotted the 24-acre land in question to eight families displaced by the Koyna dam project in Satara. While Nirupam questioned the Collector’s allotment itself claiming that the land had earlier been placed at the disposal of the CM-led City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), Bhandari refuted the contention on the Chief Minister’s behalf.
“The land is a government-owned. The CMO does not have anything at all to do with it. The land vests in the Collector’s office and applications for allotment of lands to the dam-affected do not come to the CMO. The allegations being raised against the CM are laughable and childish,” said Bhandari. But Nirupam went on to allege that the land had in fact been earmarked by the CIDCO for the second phase of the Central Park project, again a contention that both the CMO and the CIDCO have denied.
Meanwhile, former CM Prithviraj Chavan termed the entire matter as a “big scam.” Questioning the allotment of land to the oustees in a prime urban belt, Chavan further claimed, “The dam-affected families ought to have been given agriculture land. The fact that the CIDCO raised no-objection to the allotment and in fact went on to recommend that the land be denotified cannot take place with the active collusion and blessings of the man at the top (read the CM),” alleged Chavan. CIDCO officials, however, maintained that the land had always been with the Collector’s office.
On May 14, 2018, documents show that all the eight beneficiary families sold their lands to the same private builder, Paradise Builders. “Everything happened at such breakneck speed. The survey of the land, the sale deed and power of attorney in all eight cases, mutation entries (transferring the land in the builder’s favour) were all done on only day. The conclusion is unmistakable. The entire transaction could not have taken place without active collusion of the CIDCO officials, the CM-led Urban Development department, and the CMO. This is a scam,” Chavan said. “The former CM has made allegations that he himself did not seem confident about. That’s why the Congress had to parachute Surjewala from Delhi. There is no merit in the allegation. We condemn the former CM and the Congress for misleading people and running a false campaign against Fadnavis,” argued Bhandari.
After Nirupam showcased three picture of Lad with the same builder, Surjewala fired another salvo. “Land with estimated value of Rs 1,767 crore has been sold to the developer for merely Rs 3.70 crore. What is the special relationship between the CIDCO/ Urban Development department and Paradise Builders? Does Paradise builders have special blessings of the CM, enabling them to secure such a ‘Sweetheart deal’? How were the eight beneficiaries identified and who identified the Navi Mumbai prime land for them? Is it not a clear cut case of violation of law, misuse of public authority, causing loss to the public exchequer, and benefitting a private developer?,” Surjewala asked, while demanding the judicial probe.
Refuting the probe demand, Bhandari, however, claimed that the Bombay High Court had already disposed of a petition challenging the land allotment on June 29 this year. Lad, meanwhile, claimed that while the builder in question was his “friend”, he denied any business links with him. “Between 2010 and 2014, I was the Chairman of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority. It is obvious that I have friendly ties with several builders. Besides I’m also a businessman. But I categorically deny any business links with the builder. I’ll be filing a Rs 500 crore defamation suit against Chavan, Surjewala, Nirupam and the Maharashtra Congress.”
Chavan also alleged that the sale deed between the builder and the beneficiaries also records that there was a prior agreement between them. But Bhandari alleged that the Congress had stooped to a new low with the allegations. “The Congress has not been able to find a single corruption matter in Maharashtra. In desperation they are now making childish allegations. The land in question is valued at Rs 5.29 crore,” Bhandari alleged, while saying that matters where the oustees of Koyna dam project, who had been allotted lands during the Congress-NCP regime, have sold their lands to developers can also be found. Some questions are being raised in the corridors of power on whether rumbling within the state government had led to the row.