Mumbai, Mar 13: Demanding an apology from Prithviraj Chavan for allegedly misleading people of the state on the issue of appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) during his stint as Minister of State in the PMO, Opposition today boycotted the customary tea party hosted by the Maharashtra Chief Minister.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of opposition parties, attended by BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Eknath Khadse demanded an apology from Chavan and demanded his resignation on moral grounds.
"Chavan says it was the responsibility of Kerala government to provide vigilance report while the Kerala government has furnished documentary evidence that such a vigilance report was indeed given. However, Chavan is not ready to accept his responsibility. This amounts to betrayal of trust of the people of Maharashtra," Khadse said.
He also questioned the statement of Chavan made in Nanded recently in which he assured his predecessor Ashok Chavan that the party is firmly behind him in his time of crisis.
"Chavan also told his predecessor that good times will be here again. What does he mean by this. We can only say that he plans to brush the Adarsh Housing scam under the carpet. This is evident from the slow pace of investigations in the scam. Despite being named in the FIR, Ashok Chavan has still not been called for questioning," Khadse said.
He said the Opposition was against the police atrocities on local people opposing the Jaitapur nuclear power project.
"The government has failed to apprise the people about the project properly. If it is a good project, it cannot be implemented by finishing off the local residents," he added.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative council Pandurang Phundkar accused the government of being anti-farmer.
"The package of Rs 1,600 crore announced after the Winter session in Nagpur has not been given to the farmers who suffered crop loss due to unseasonal rains. They got only Rs 437 crore out of which Rs 250 crore was promised last year," he said.
MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar said his party had proposed moving a no-confidence motion against the government on the first day of the budget session itself but it was not agreeable to others.
Khadse said he would demand a white paper on the state economy and how the Debt of Rs 2.36 lakh crore incurred by the state was utilised in development works.
"50 per cent of class three and four government posts are lying vacant on grounds that the government's financial position is precarious, he added. PTI
