BJP used scam money for polls: NCP

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s spokesperson Nawab Malik levelled allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Nanded Municipal Corporation elections.  

According to him, the BJP used the Rs 300 crore allegedly earned by the ousted officer, Radheshyam Mopalwar in the Samruddhi Mahamarg scam to campaign in the said election. The BJP has termed these allegations completely baseless.

This year, Sena MLA Prataprao Chikhalikar Patil was seen campaigning for the BJP. It is interesting to note that Mr Chikhalikar’s sister’s son-in-law, IAS officer Pravin Padwal, is conducting a probe into the allegations against Mr Mopalwar.

Nanded Municipal Corporation election results were declared on Wednesday, where the NCP couldn’t win even a single seat, losing the ten seats it had won last year.

While addressing a press conference in the evening, Mr Malik said, “Everyone knows that the BJP spent crore of rupees in the Nanded election. From where did this money come? What is the real source of such a huge cash flow of money?”

“The ongoing probe under the IAS Pravin Padwal in the Mopalwar case is fake and should be taken away from him. If the government really wants to prove the property issue, the case should be handed over to the Bombay high court,” said Mr Malik.

BJP’s chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari called the allegations baseless. “The BJP is not a fool to use the money of those who are being probed by the government. These are irresponsible statements and we don’t want to give it any attention,” said Mr Bhandari.

Mr Mopalwar was the managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). After his alleged audio clip with a middleman regarding a property issue went viral, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had to announce an inquiry into the matter. Mr Mopalwar was then ousted from the MSRDC post.