The ruling-coalition partner in Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — whose image in the state has taken a beating especially in the wake of alleged involvement of party’s senior ministers in various scams and also the inept handling by party’s home minister to effectively handle law and order situation — is striving to restore it’s reputation.
Irrigation Minister Sunil Tatkare has been under attack for the cost escalation of various irrigation projects and alleged corruption in this connection, while Public Works Department Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has been targeted by the Opposition and critics for allegedly awarding contracts for the construction of Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi to his relatives.
The party has also been blamed for shielding Minister of State for Transport Gulabrao Deokar, who is allegedly involved in the housing scam in Jalgaon, north Maharashtra. Deokar got some relief after the Supreme Court stayed his arrest till August 30 after his bail was cancelled by the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court. Though Deokar submitted his resignation to the state party chief Madhukar Pichad, it was not forwarded to the chief minister. This has raised questions over NCP’s commitment to fight corruption.
Incidentally, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has given a clean chit to Bhujbal and Tatkare while firing salvos against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for running a campaign against the party.
An NCP minister, on condition of anonymity, told Business Standard, “The party should not protect corrupt ministers and leaders at a time when it is trying to consolidate its position in the state. We have to self introspect. We will have to take corrective steps in order to win the 2014 Assembly elections.”
RR Patil, who was reinstated as home minister in November 2010, has been rapped by Pawar for his failure to exercise authority and in maintaining the law and order situation in the state. He blamed Patil for the ineffective functioning of the intelligence wing of the police force, and had also blamed him for the recent bomb blasts in Pune. Patil is also under attack for the August 11 violence in the city in which two persons were killed and over 60 injured, a large number of them police personnel, after the rally organised by Raza Academy to protest against the violence in Assam became out of control. The Opposition has demanded the resignation of home minister following the incident.
Patil had earlier stepped down from the home minister’s post in the wake of 26/11 terror attack after his infamous statement that “in big cities like this, small incidents do happen. It's is not a total failure."
During his second stint, he was targeted for police firing on agitating farmers in Pune district. Three farmers, including a woman, were killed in police firing near Baur village on the Pune-Mumbai expressway on August 9, 2011. Further, two warkaries were killed in police firing last year at Jalna. Warkaries are devotees who go to Pandharpur on foot to have darshan of Shri Vitthal.
The timing of the campaign against NCP ministers comes close on the heels of party’s move to consolidate its position across the state, after it outsmarted its ally, the Congress, in the recent civic bodies elections.
Further, the party’s plan to reach out to the other backward classes, scheduled castes, minorities and women may hit a roadblock in the wake of mounting corruption charges against its ministers.
However, the NCP is seeing an opportunity to consolidate itself after the Congress’ image was dented in the wake of chargesheet filed against former chief minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh scam and the Central Bureau of Investigation’s move to name former Congress chief ministers as witnesses in the same case.
