Eknath Khadse now goes after food minister Anil Deshmukh

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Eknath Khadse has alleged that the private secretary of food and civil supply minister Anil Deshmukh demands hefty amounts for ration shop licences and their renewals. Khadse demanded a probe into the case by the Anti Corruption Bureau. 

While levelling the allegations against Rajendra Ahiwar, Khadse said that he had copies of the affidavits made by the aggrieved parties and there was an urgent need to probe the case.

According to him, the secretary demanded Rs50,000 to Rs1 lakh for ration shop licences.

Khadse also said that the bribe was collected by using the names of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and a former chief minister. Rubbishing the charges Deshmukh said that the party that has been complaining about the bribe had lost the case in the appeal before the appellate authority. He added that Ahiwar has filed a complaint in this respect.

The opposition leader also alleged that industrialists evaded tax amounting to crores of rupees misusing provisions under the mega industrial policy incentives. “The state coffer was deprived of crores of rupees as industrialists took advantage of the lacunae in the mega industrial policy introduced six years ago. They formed fake companies to grab the tax incentives. The government distributed Rs1.80 lakh crore towards the incentives but even after that more than 65% of the industrialists withdrew themselves,” he said.