Nagpur (The Hawk): The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) made noise in the Maharashtra Legislature on Tuesday by accusing the chief minister, Eknath Shinde of corruption and calling for his immediate resignation.
The chorus of prominent figures calling on Shinde to resign included Shiv Sena-UBT President Uddhav Thackeray, Congress President Nana Patole, Nationalist Congress Party state President Jayant Patole, Leaders of Opposition Ajit Pawar (Assembly) and Ambadas Danve (Council), among others.
They cited the fact that Shinde had given some builders a premium Nagpur parcel of land worth approximately Rs 100 crore that was intended for the housing of the underprivileged and slum dwellers for a pittance of just Rs 2 crore when he was the Urban Development Minister.
The issue gained rapid prominence after the Bombay High Court put a standing quo on the project, according to the MVA, as a number of politicians and legislators protested on the steps of the house and shouted slogans.
"The CM must stop right away because he has no right to speak for even a minute. Given the massive land-scam, how is he still in office? Anil Deshmukh and Sanjay Rathore, two ministers from the MVA administration, resigned as soon as the allegations were made, according to Patole.
In a major blow, the HC questioned Shinde's directive (issued while he was the relevant minister during the former MVA regime), ordering the Nagpur Improvement Trust to transfer roughly five acres of the land to 16 private builders in April 2021, despite the fact that the case was still pending.
The court ordered the state administration to submit its response and maintain the status quo, and the case will be heard again on January 4.
Balasaheb Thorat, the leader of the Congress Legislative Party, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Chhagan A. Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Aditya Thackeray, Anil Parab, and others had met with MVA leaders earlier on Tuesday to develop a shared approach to the problem.
For the second day in a row, protesters sang "50 khokhe, Absolutely Ok," a slang phrase for Rs. 50 crore, denouncing the Bharatiya Janata Party for disparaging state symbols, and showing support for the Marathi-speaking residents of the border villages between Maharashtra and Karnataka.
(Inputs from Agencies)