The Congress on Thursday attacked Lokayukta P P Naolekar calling him a BJP man and the institution a puppet. The state government has plied him with so many favours that his impartiality and sense of justice are under a cloud, the Opposition party alleged,its fiercest attack so far on the former judge of the former Supreme Court judge. It's clear from the recent activities of the Lokayukta that he has become a puppet in the hands of the BJP government, PCC media chief Manak Agrawal alleged in a statement. He said the Lokayukta's office buried a spate of complaints against powerful minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and also gave a clean chit to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his wife Sadhna Singh in the dumper scam. Agrawal further alleged that Naolekar had recently turned away a Rs 100-crore health scam,saying the health department should conduct an inquiry on its own. If departments are supposed to probe their own corruption why do we need the Lokayukta, the party asked. When contacted at his residence,Naolekar refused to comment. The Opposition had last month alleged that the state government incurred expenditure on Lokayukta's son Sandeep Naolekar's visit to China,as part of an official delegation led by Chouhan. The industrialist son had refuted the allegation and maintained that he bore all the expenditure and accompanied the CM in his capacity as the chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry's MP chapter.
