PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil later clarified that 3.19 lakh was the number of pills used to kill rats and not the number of rats that were killed.
Despite the fact that the tender to kill rats in Mantralaya rocked the state assembly and became the talk of the town, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has revealed that senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse had raised the issue in a lighter vein and did not intend any politics.
After Khadse raised the issue last week, pointing out that 3.19 lakh rats were killed in a matter of one week in Mantralaya, it grabbed headlines across the media. It was also picked up by the Opposition which criticised the government over the issue of an alleged scam in the tenders to kill rats in Mantralaya. PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil later clarified that 3.19 lakh was the number of pills used to kill rats and not the number of rats that were killed.
Fadnavis revealed on Wednesday night that Khadse had raised the issue in a lighter vein, and said, "Khadse saheb met me immediately after this issue rocked the state assembly and told me that he had raised the issue in a lighter vein. He told me that he did not imagine that the issue would flare up so much."
It was MLA Charan Waghmare who had availed the information about the tender for killing rats in Mantralaya through a right to information application. When DNA tried to contact Khadse over the phone, he was not reachable.
Khadse is a former state minister and resigned after a series of allegations were leveled against him including irregularities in a land purchase-related deal. Following his exit from the state government, Khadse has not left any opportunity to catch the government on the wrong foot in every assembly session over the last one year. During this budget session, he criticised the government over the unavailability of doctors in Jalgaon, his home district, and the agrarian crisis as well.
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