Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane’s rebellion against Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh over land allotment to the Videocon group at “cheap rates” has not only created fissures within the Congress but also caused a rift between the BJP and the Shiv Sena.
Rane was in the Shiv Sena before he parted ways with it in 2005 and joined the Congress. Last Tuesday, Rane stormed out of a state cabinet meeting alleging that land worth around Rs 3,500 crore at Navi Mumbai was sold to the Videocon group for just Rs 350 crore. The group is planning to build a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit on the land.
While the BJP feels Rane’s allegation has provided them the perfect opportunity to attack the ruling Congress-NCP coalition, the Sena is wary of using an issue tossed in state politics by Rane. Besides,Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot’s younger brother Rajkumar Dhoot is the party’s Rajya Sabha MP.
Speaking with Business Standard, the state BJP General Secretary, Vinod Tavde, said: “The BJP is going to put up posters across Mumbai and its adjoining areas highlighting how the minister (Rane) is accusing the government of committing fraud by selling government land dirt-cheap.”
“To expose the corrupt practices of the state government, we will launch an agitation and the issue will be discussed at the party’s state executive committee meeting,” Tavde added.
Nitin Gadkari, the party’s state unit president, said: “One can clearly see corruption in this land deal as the state government is itself admitting to having sold the land for just Rs 40 crore and an equity stake which will bring Rs 940 crore after five years.”
“Who can guarantee what will be the state of the stock markets after five years?” he asked.
However, the Shiv Sena sees no reason to leverage an issue raised by Rane. Sanjay Raut, the party’s spokesman and another Rajya Sabha MP from the state, said: “Industry is going out of Maharashtra because we are unable to make land available to them. We need to make land available to industry at concessional rates. Some other states are offering land free of cost to attract industry.”
“In fact, we would not like anyone to politicises this issue. All political parties in the state should work towards bringing more industry and investment to the state,” he added.
