Cong, NCP spar over on Thane bifurcation plan, tribal dept scam

The alleged scam pertains to the purchase made when senior NCP leader Babanrao Pachpute headed the tribal development department.

Alliance politics between the Congress and the NCP played out during the question hour in the legislative council on Friday, with the Congress catching the latter in a bind on two crucial issues.

It began with Congress party’s chief whip in the council Sanjay Dutt questioning the long-pending approval to the bifurcation of the Thane district.

The Congress-led state revenue department has moved a proposal for Thane’s bifurcation but the state finance department, led by NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, is yet to green-light the move. Suggesting that objections to the proposal were political in nature, state revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat (Congress), after being prodded by Dutt and Opposition members who joined the chorus, said all proceedings in this regard would be completed before August 15 this year.

Later, during discussion on an alleged multi-crore scam in the NCP-controlled tribal development department regarding purchase of micronutrient chikkis in Ashram schools in Maharashtra, Congress member Chandrakant Raghuvanshi alleged involvement of the former department minister and sought a probe against him.

While ordering a CID probe in the matter, council chairperson said if allegations against the former minister are serious, they must be probed. The alleged scam pertains to the purchase made when senior NCP leader Babanrao Pachpute headed the tribal development department.

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