Congress faces Opposition ire over Amaravati cash scandal
Besieged with controversies and charges of corruption, the Congress, which felt it had received a breather following the “BJP-porn scandal,” is now finding its back to the wall in the wake of “seizure” of Rs 1 crore from one of its workers in Amravati district .
The rival parties early this week stepped up their attack on the Congress after the news broke out on Sunday that Rs one crore in hard cash was seized from a car (MH-31DC-4744), driven by a the party functionary at Gudgenagar taluka in Amravati.
The local police had enforced a naka bandi and a routine check in the wee hours of Sunday that led to the discovery of the mind-boggling amount of cash. The occupants of the car - Prakash Masram (driver) and Ashish Bodhankar - were taken into custody under section 41(1) (d) of Cr Pc (Possession of stolen property.)
As the news of the seizure of the cash trickled down, Congress ally Maharahstra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar distanced his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) from the “cash scandal”. “Given the silence maintained by the Amravati city police, I have strong reason to believe that local police commissioner is under pressure. Where was vehicle heading and to whom does this money belong?”Pawar said.
While the Congress has grudgingly admitted that the cash did belong to the party, and that it was “meant for weaker party candidates standing in Amravati polls”, there seems to be hardly any takers for the explanation doled out by the party.
The rival parties in the cotton belt, sharpened their attack and brought out more details alleging that President of India Pratibhatai Patil’s son Raosaheb Shekhawat, assembly representative from the region, was “the key person behind the disbursing of the cash.”
According to Congress party leaders including state Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, “Shekhawat being in-charge of polls from the region was sent cash so that he could distribute Rs one lakh to each of 87 financially-weak candidates. The remaining 13 lakh was meant for party overall campaign during the election.”
Shekhawat further endorsed the version by holding a media conference in Amravati and stating, “I had been requesting the MPCC (Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee) for the last four to five days to give us some money to fund the campaign of our financially weak party candidates contesting AMC poll. We have done nothing wrong.”
However, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday stated the seized cash, “reveals how Congress is trying to muscle its way into elections with the help of monies. They are trying to bribe the voters and investigations into it would reveal that the money was sent by a minister close to chief minister Chavan.”
