Maharashtra govt says Eknath Khadse misrepresented facts in rodents allegations

The Maharashtra government on Saturday broke its silence on the claims by former minister Eknath Khadse that there was a scam in exterminating rats in the Mantralaya, with finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar stating that the BJP leader has "misinterpreted facts".

Speaking to reporters from Shirdi, Mungantiwar said, "Some pesticides were placed to ensure that (rats do not) eat files. Around 3 to 3.5 lakh tablets costing Rs 1 to 1.25 each were kept in the Mantralaya. This was interpreted to mean that one rat should die for each tablet," said Mungantiwar. He added that God should "give good sense to all political parties and leaders to do proper interpretation".

Mungantiwar said this was done as a preventive measure and it did not mean that every rat died.

Earlier, while speaking in the state legislative assembly, Khadse had charged that there was corruption in a contract wherein 3,19,400 rodents were killed in Mantralaya in a week in 2016.