Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai on Saturday offered to resign after corruption allegations were levelled against him. However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rejected his resignation letter, ANI reported.
Desai, a Shiv Sena leader, had allegedly denotified almost 400 hectares of land in Nashik that he had acquired from farmers between 2007 and 2008 to benefit a builder. Shiv Sena had denied the allegations against Desai as baseless.
Desai’s offer to resign comes a day after the chief minister ordered an inquiry into the allegations. In the Maharashtra Assembly on Friday, Fadnavis had told the Opposition members that the government will request the Lokayukta to inquire the complaints against Desai, India Today reported. “If he agrees, we will order a probe by Lokayukta. But if he doesn’t, we will hold an independent probe,” he had said.
Fadnavis, however, said of the total 16,909 hectares of land denotified, 9,335 hectares was done during the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra. “Only the notification has been issued by the present dispensation. This government has denotified only 7,734 hectares of land,” he said, according to PTI.
On Friday, Fadnavis had also ordered a Lokayukta investigation into the allegations against Maharashtra Housing Minister Prakash Mehta who too is facing graft charges, PTI reported.
In July, Mehta was accused of favouring builders in two different slum rehabilitation projects in Mumbai’s Tardeo and Ghatkopar areas. The building rights were allegedly transferred to SD Corporation without Chief Minister Fadnavis’ approval. Mehta’s wife and son were also accused of benefiting from a redevelopment project.
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