Sapkal accuses Fadnavis government of graft in Rs 36,000 crore Nashik Kumbh Mela funds

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal has made serious allegations against the Fadnavis government over the Kumbh Mela in Nashik. He said corruption was being carried out in the name of the Kumbh Mela and that 50 per cent of the Rs 36,000 crore fund was being pocketed.

According to Sapkal, the Mahayuti government has sanctioned Rs 36,000 crore for the Nashik Kumbh Mela. The government claims development work is under way, but in reality the maximum is being siphoned off, he said. He said Rs 22 crore was being spent on a pavilion, Rs 3 crore on a helipad and Rs 350 crore on CCTV. He alleged that corruption was being carried out deliberately in the name of development.

A review meeting of the Lok Sabha in-charges, Assembly in-charges, district in-charges and district presidents of the North Maharashtra region was held in the main presence of party in-charge Dr Sirivella Prasad and Sapkal. CWC member Balasaheb Thorat and MP Shobha Bachhav were among the leaders present. A camp of all district presidents of Maharashtra had been held in Nashik, at which Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi gave guidance. The meeting reviewed the agenda of that camp.

Speaking to the media, Sapkal said that after the churning of the ocean, when the pitcher of nectar emerged, its drops fell at four places on earth, and Nashik is one of them, where the Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years. He said the Devendra Fadnavis government was sowing the poison of corruption in the name of this very Kumbh Mela and would have to taste its fruit. He said no work had been completed in Nashik so far, people in Nashik were troubled and bogus work orders were being issued. He said Fadnavis had appointed a minister for corruption. Sapkal said the BJP-Mahayuti government had not spared even the sacred Kumbh Mela for the sake of corruption.

Senior leader Balasaheb Thorat said the Bharatiya Janata Party was going to any lengths to gain power. What was done for power in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections was now being done in the cooperative sector as well, he said.

Thorat cited the Gokul election. The panel of Satej alias Bunty Patil had a clear majority, yet the election of the chairman was not allowed to take place by raising the quorum issue. The right to elect the chairman belongs to whoever has the majority. The government should change the quorum rule, but it is instead seizing control of Gokul through the back door by making a new law, he said.

According to Thorat, the government has started a very wrong practice of appointing four members from the government side, and this law will apply to all institutions in the cooperative sector. The BJP-Mahayuti government has set out to destroy the entire cooperative sector, he said. He said the Chief Minister should not become a partner in this sin.