Days after the arrest of a man claiming to be his personal assistant for allegedly demanding Rs 30 crore as bribe in a land allotment case, Maharashtra Revenue minister Eknath Khadse today held a closed-door meeting the state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve here.
The meeting between the two BJP leaders that lasted for over forty minutes, was held at the state BJP headquarters in the city. However, both the leaders declined to reveal what transpired at the meet.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Danve said, "State working president of the federation of Mali community organisations, Anil Mahajan, joined the party today. Since Mahajan is from Jalgaon, I had invited Khadse for the function."
Khadse said, "I am a disciplined party worker and came to the party office on invitation of the state party president."
Both the leaders evaded questions over the raging controversy around ACB's action on Gajanan Patil, who claimed to be the PA of the minister.
Patil was arrested on Friday for demanding Rs 30 crore from complainant Ramesh Jadhav, an economist, who had sought an NOC from Khadse's office regarding the land allotment in Kalyan taluka in Thane district. The plots were allotted to Transport Department.
Earlier, during informal discussions, Danve, who was a former Union Minister, shared his experiences regarding how people try to corrupt people around ministers.
"When I was Union Minister, one day I found that someone had sponsored my cook's air travel. After pursuing the matter, we realised that the sponsor wanted to keep a tab on my movements," Danve said.
"People around ministers are not necessarily corrupt. But, often several people are out there to influence people around us. We have to venture very carefully," he added.
It is being speculated in political circles that the factionalism in BJP has ignited the controversy around Khadse and few of his cabinet colleagues are fanning it. Danve, however, categorically denied any such reports.
Meanwhile, social activist Anjali Damania has demanded that the state government should seize the Sonata Limousine "illegally possessed" by Khadse's son-in-law Dr Pranjal Khelwalkar.
"Will BJP Govt sieze Sonata Limo of Dr Pranjal Khelwalkar, Son in law of Eknath Khadse? Limo is not legal," Damania tweeted.
