Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis orders investigation into a housing project in Jalna; Shiv Sena (Shinde) sees red

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (Shinde) is seeing red after Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's office ordered an inquiry into a housing project in Jalna that was pursued and cleared by a government headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister Office has asked CIDCO to start a probe into allegations that a housing project worth ₹900 crore, that was scrapped in 2000 for being unviable, was again revived allegedly to benefit businessmen who purchased the land at throw away prices and then had CIDCO execute the project to build homes that was financially not viable for CIDCO to execute. "We had started this project as it benefited the people, I was the CM then, we had two deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar and whatever project we started was for the benefit of the people. In this regard I will take (more) information on the case," said Deputy CM Eknath Shinde when asked about the stay.

Shinde naming Fadnavis and Pawar as the deputy CMs in the earlier government was a thinly veiled attempt by him to convey the message that when he took the decision as the CM, both Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were a part of the decision making process in the erstwhile government. This comes amid the rumours within government and political circles that relations between Fadnavis and Shinde have been strained especially after Fadnavis took over as CM. Shinde was keen to become the CM but the BJP leadership went ahead with Fadnavis.


Significantly, the complainant in the case, on which basis the Chief Minister's Office has asked for a probe, is Santosh Sambhare, a former UBT Shiv Sena MLA from Badnapur.