NCP leader and former Maharashtra PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, whose troubles seem to be mounting with the Enforcement Directorate arresting his nephew Sameer Bhujbal in a money laundering case, today sought to deflect the blame, stating all his decisions were taken with the then Chief Minister's consent.
Meanwhile, the ED also questioned the NCP leader's son Pankaj Bhujbal today in connection with the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and another case.
"It takes at least 1-2 years before a proposal is brought before the cabinet...The proposals were then scrutinised by several departments like Law and Judiciary, Finance, Revenue, Home, Urban Development, etc. Once they cleared, proposals came twice to a cabinet subcommittee headed by the Chief Minister. How am I responsible then?" Chhagan Bhujbal told reporters here.
The ED filed three cases against my family even though we were given a clean chit by the PWD officials of the present government, and the report was signed by additional chief secretary and the concerned minister, he said.
The NCP leader refuted charges that his family was not co-operating with the ED.
"Sameer had sought time from the agency as he was asked to submit documents related to transactions of the last 15 years. When he collected all the papers, he himself called ED officials and said he is ready to come over and submit them. In spite of this there was a sudden raid and he was arrested," he said.
"When a committee of PWD officials gave me a clean chit, they took six months to do so after studying all files, having thousands of pages. Later, the other committee took only one day to hold me responsible for misappropriation of funds. Can thousands of pages be studied in one day?
"We are ready to cooperate fully with the probe. But arresting somebody is not right," Bhujbal said.
He also claimed that he had complete support of NCP president Sharad Pawar and hinted that some leaders of ruling Shiv Sena too believed he was innocent.
"Parde mein hai, parde mein rehne do (let it remain a secret)," he said when asked to name the Sena leaders.
