The Aam Aadmi Part today alleged that Sangli district BJP chief Prithviraj Deshmukh was trying to "grab" 110-acre of "prime land" of Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli.
"Former NCP leader, Prithviraj Deshmukh, who is now Sangli BJP president, is trying to grab control of Walchand College of Engineering in Sangli, which owns around 110 acres of prime land," AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon told a press conference here.
"In their brazen greed for land, BJP leaders, who are assured of getting clean chits from the Chief Minister, are unmindful of the damage they are causing to the state. In this case, they are doing it to our educational institutes," Menon alleged.
She also alleged that earlier NCP was "infamous for land grab", now BJP has gone "a step further". "BJP is nothing but NCP in a new garb," she said.
AAP's allegations come around three months after industrialist Ajit Gulabchand, who heads the administrative council of Walchand College, accused Deshmukh of trying to illegally take control of the institution.
Gulabchand and other eminent persons from Sangli, had written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in this regard.
The council had alleged that Deshmukh's henchmen had stormed the college on May 24 this year, illegally occupied the office of its Director and stopped teaching and non- teaching staff from entering.
Referring to this, Menon said, "State Education Minister Vinod Tawde should have taken strong action against Deshmukh after he made a bid to forcibly take control of the Walchand college a few months back. Instead, Tawde is using his ministry to legitimise Deshmukh's brazen attempts."
"Deshmukh is not even a graduate. He has made different claims about his degrees in his election affidavit and in MTE Society application. He has no background in the field of education. He cannot just force his way into the educational institutes. He is doing this merely to grab the prime properties owned by such trusts and colleges," Sharma alleged.
She also asked the government not to play politics over the issue. "Otherwise I will be forced to launch an agitation with my supporters to save the college," she said.
"I strongly condemn the biased stand taken by Tawde and Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil in this regard. I also condemn Chief Minister for promoting Deshmukh' image, who has done everything to usurp the college," she alleged.
Repeated calls and messages sent to Deshmukh failed to get any response.
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