The BJP-NCP confrontation has taken a new twist with both sides ready to battle it out over the Mukund Bhavan Trust land dispute.
The confrontation between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the land scams is becoming a bitter battle which will be fought on the streets and court. The NCP on Wednesday threatened to file a criminal and civil suit against the leader of the opposition, Eknath Khadse, for making false allegations against the party in the Mukund Bhavan Trust Yerawada land in Pune.
The former collector of Pune-turned-NCP leader, Shriniwas Patil, said, “I would like to demand an unconditional public apology from Khadse for levelling baseless charges against me and my party. Otherwise I may have to explore options to proceed legally against him. I am considering filing both criminal and civil suit against Khadse if he does not apologise.”
Another interesting fact that emerged in the controversy is the BJP’s attempt to drag Udayanraje Bhosale (MP) of the royal Chhatrapati Shivaji clan to establish they were the original land owners of the entire region.
The rivalry between Bhosale and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is not a secret in the political spectrum. However, the BJP claimed it only approached Bhosale to get the original documents and does not want to play politics.
Last week, Khadse had alleged gross violation of rules in handing over 326 acres land to the above mentioned trust. He had alleged that Patil had played a crucial role in facilitating the process after initial resistance following orders from the state government, which was then headed by chief minister Sharad Pawar. The issue relates to the developments during 1989.
The top leadership of the state NCP held the stage to come in defence of their party to undermine the BJP for what it alleged was tarnishing the image of Pawar.
Not to bow to the NCP threat of taking the battle to court, Khadse said, “The NCP cannot run away from the crime. My information is based on well researched documents acquired from departments of revenue, collector office, public works department and archaeology.”
Earlier, Patil (NCP) said, “Managing trustee Murlidhar Chaturbhuj Lohia had bought the rights to Imani land from Ramkisangir Dadagir Gosavi and others at various times from 1939 to 1952. The litigation and disputes regarding Mukund Trust was a prolonged affair starting from 1952, continuing through my tenure as district collector (1988-1992) and finally settled around 2003.”
In his clarification, he said, “The area of 326 acres of land under dispute was arrived at by the courts and not by me as a collector of Pune. Therefore, my role is baseless as the charge made by Khade.”
Unwilling to lower the guard, the BJP countered the charges saying the NCP was providing half truth. Armed with documents, Khadse said, “The very premise of the NCP that original land belonged to Gosavi who was just a revenue collector of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is unfounded. We have acquired the documents from Udayanraje Bhosale (MP) of the royal Chhatrapati Shivaji family to establish they owned the entire region.”
Digging the past, the BJP has raised the question as to what were the factors that led the former government to hand over the land to Mukund Trust.
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