Oppn demand a political stunt: Munde

MUMBAI, April 5: Dubbing the demand of his resignation by the Opposition in the State Legislative Council as a "political stunt&quot...

MUMBAI, April 5: Dubbing the demand of his resignation by the Opposition in the State Legislative Council as a "political stunt", Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde on Monday withdrew the statement clarifying his stand on the Mumbai High Court’s recent ruling ordering a CBI probe in awarding the work of retrofitting of turbines at various power generation plants of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB).

Interestingly, last week the entire Opposition had staged a walkout in the council as chairperson Prof N S Pharande had restrained Munde from making any statement on the floor of the House. That time, the Opposition had demanded Munde’s resignation on moral grounds saying the HC had held Munde guilty. The Opposition members had moved an adjournment motion demanding a debate on the issue last week. Though Pharande had refused permission saying the matter was subjudice, Munde had agreed to making a statement on the floor of the House.

On Monday, after the question hour was over, copies of Munde’s statement were circulated amongst the members. Arun Mehta, Vyamkappa Patki, Vasant Chavan and others raised strong objection to Munde making a statement and clarifying his stand. "The matter is subjudice and it cannot be discussed in the House. Munde’s statement is misleading and does misinterpret the HC ruling ordering a CBI probe, Munde is trying to make the MSEB officials a scapegoat to save himself," Chavan said.

BJP’s Prakash Javadekar objected to Chavan saying that Munde wanted to bring to the fore the facts in the entire episode and the Opposition should not confuse the same with a debate on the issue. He added that the Opposition members had themselves demanded a debate on the issue and information from Munde. Deputy Chairperson Vasant Davkhare, however, ruled that Munde had been granted permission to make a statement on the issue.

Munde himself was least interested in making the statement and inviting troublesome debate. "Leader of the Opposition had demanded that I should make a statement and had alleged that the HC had blamed me in the ruling. Now that I want to tell the facts in the case, he does not want to know the same. He is thus preventing the right information from reaching to the citizens of Maharashtra. But if the members are insisting that I should not make a statement, I withdraw the same," said Munde.

Later, speaking to the scribes, Munde said, "It was nothing but a political stunt by the Opposition members in the Council to demand my resignation. Now they do not want to me to come clean. Maybe they have realised that I am not at fault in awarding the work of retrofitting of turbines. In fact, the decision was taken by MSEB officials in their own capacity," he said.

In the Legislative Assembly, however, there was no opposition to Munde. In his three page statement which he read out, he said as per the HC directives, CBI will probe against the then MSEB chairman Purushottam Gajralwar and MSEB members Anil Rathod, Sudam Mandlik and Ashok Samat.