NAGPUR, June 9: Undeterred by the threat of disciplinary action, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Banwarilal Purohit today accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde of misleading the people.He was referring to the State Government's allotment of prime mining land to the Central India Coal Company (CICC) of the Mittal group.Talking to newsmen here, he said the May 7,1997 agreement of the State Government with the Mittal company was one of the country's biggest scandals.Apart from the `shady deal', the coal bearing land allotted to the CICC was very close to the Chandrapur ordinance factory and was a security risk, he added.Purohit, who is a member of the standing committee of the Defence Ministry, claimed that the Prithvi missile was charged in this factory and said any mining activity within 25 km of the factory defied national security norms.Munde, at a press conference here on Saturday, had described Purohit's allegation as baseless and said the party high command had sought an explanation from Purohit for publishing his allegation without discussing the matter with the State Government or in the party forum.The irrepressible BJP member said this was in no way an ``indiscipline'' on his part and whatever he did was in the party's interest. He asserted that he would not rest until the agreement was scrapped. He further said he would make the State Government a party to the public interest petition he had filed in the High Court challenging the Central Government's 1993 clearance to the Mittal group's private power project at Bhadrawati and captive mines for the same in violation of `established procedure'. The petition was scheduled for hearing on June 13.
