The Opposition Congress and NCP leadership is focusing on half-a-dozen ministers who have courted controversies in the last 20 months to attack the BJP-led government in Maharashtra in the monsoon session beginning on Monday. Although the formal decision will be taken at a meeting on Sunday, Congress-NCP are working on a strategy to use controversial ministers as their ammunition to fight the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in the state legislature. A senior Congress leader said, “We have drawn a long list of ministers along with their misdeeds.” [related-post] Watch Video: What's making news He added, “It includes Minister of Women and Child Development Pankaja Munde, Education Minister Vinod Tawde, Jaikumar Rawal, Sambhaji Patil Nilengekar, Ravindra Waikar and former minister Eknath Khadse.” “In the last budget session we focussed on drought and farmers’ problems. Now, raising the same issues will prove ineffective. Also the reports across state is of good monsoons,” said a leader from the opposition. Sources in the Congress said, “The AICC has given a clear directive to the state unit to go hammer and tongs against the ruling BJP and Sena ministers.” Insiders said, “Whether it relates to Pankaja Munde’s violations of guidelines and irregularities in the Rs 12,000 crore Take Home Ration scheme or outgoing Khadse’s Pune land deal, we will expose wrongdoings. We have listed the cases against all the half-a-dozen ministers who will have to explain their conduct in the assembly and council.” Political managers in the Congress said, “We are aware that at least two senior leaders in NCP Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare’s irrigation projects are under scrutiny by the anti-corruption bureau, but that should not deter us from scaling an attack on ruling ministers.” Congress leaders said, “The BJP and Sena cannot intimidate us with Adarsh scam to silence our voice on wrongdoing in their own government.” Moreover, state Congress chief Ashok Chavan has already faced action for the alleged scam by foregoing his chief ministerial post, they said. The back office of the opposition has already documented volumes of papers against every tainted minister which it wants to debate during the three week session. Top leaders of the opposition believe the clarifications of respective ministers is not enough. “We would expect a special investigation team probe or a judicial probe in every scam, from Waikar’s housing issue to Munde’s Take Home Ration scam,” they said.
