Mumbai: The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday demanded the removal of Maharashtra housing minister Prakash Mehta on Thursday.
The Opposition parties have also sought registration of criminal case against Mr Mehta. However, the housing minister said that the Opposition is making these demands on the basis of the information they received “from their sources”. He said that he can’t react to their sources’ information.
The state NCP president, Jayant Patil, said that before conducting the probe, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had given a clean chit to his colleague Prakash Mehta. The truth has been revealed in the probe.
“As the probe has found Prakash Mehta guilty, will the CM stop shielding his corrupt cabinet colleague and sack Prakash Mehta from his cabinet?” asked Mr Patil. The Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that Mr Mehta should be sacked from the cabinet and criminal proceedings should be initiated against him as the Lokayukta has raised a serious question over his role as MP in Mill SRA compound scheme, which has been reported in the media.
Mr Mehta had allegedly issued orders in June 2017, allowing a developer to use building rights originally sanctioned for the rehabilitation of a slum rehabilitation project. The Opposition parties had raised this issue in the state legislature with the demand to sack him from the cabinet, post this, Mr Fadnavis had stayed the order and announced a probe through Lokayukta.
Housing minister Prakash Mehta told the media, “I don’t have information on whether the Lokayukta’s report has been submitted to the government. I don’t know what has been written in the report. I will comment on it once I know the details.”
Meanwhile, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in New Delhi said that state has received the ATR. “Action taken report will be tabled in the upcoming session. It is a matter of state legislature’s prerogative. Therefore, it would be breach of privilege to say much on it,” he said.
