Pawar comes to Gadkari’s defence,asks what scam

Pawar senior denied having business links with Gadkari and said that while they are political rivals and fight each other in elections,there was a culture in Maharashtra of political leaders coming together for the sake of development.

“I have not gone in depth but on what I have seen so far,when setting (up) of sugar mills along with the farmers is a service to that area and secondly taking land and providing excellent quality of seeds to hundreds of farmers is definitely useful to the farming community,” Pawar told the CNN-IBN news channel in an interview. “Gadkari is a responsible man,works responsibly. I have no business with Mr Gadkari. If anyone can establish I will be happy to hand over that business to them.”

Pawar also dismissed Kejriwal’s suggestion of a scam in extra land near a dam in Vidarbha being given on lease to Gadkari’s trust.

“In a particular project land was available with the irrigation department which was owned by some farmers previously.there was a demand from Mr Gadkari that land should be available for my institution for a particular purpose and.irrigation development board had given approvals,” the minister said. “Irrigation development board is headed by minister and this is an approval by committee of the directors…I don’t understand what is a scam here (sic).”

He also said that it was not Gadkari as an individual but one of his trusts that got the land and that too only for a “particular period” and not on a long-term basis.

Pawar even defended the BJP chief’s other business interests,pointing out that Gadkari had taken over closed sugar mills and had started running them efficiently.