Shiv Sena demands action against Vilasrao Deshmukh, NCP leaders

NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena today demanded action against Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and ten other Congress and NCP leaders in Maharashtra in the wake of a CAG report in the state which is understood to have indicted them in land and housing scams.

"If the CAG report in Parliament leads to a Union Minister being sent to Tihar Jail, the same logic should apply to the CAG report in Maharashtra," Shiv Sena Spokesman Sanjay Raut MP told PTI.

It was an obvious reference to former Telecom Minister A Raja, who is currently in Tihar in 2G spectrum scam.

Raut's reaction came close on the heels of news from Mumbai that the CAG has in a recent report indicted Deshmukh for preferential allotment of a plot in Mumbai to a trust founded by him and holding on to it for four years allegedly in breach of conditions.

Maharashtra ministers reportedly named in the CAG report, whose purported contents were given to the media in Mumbai in a CD by the opposition yesterday are Narayan Rane, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Patangrao Kadam (all Congress)and Chhagan Bhujbal (NCP).

According to the report yet to be tabled in the Maharashtra legislature, the 23,840 sq m plot in suburban Borivali was allotted to the Manjara Charitable Trust by the government on September 28, 2005, when Deshmukh was chief minister, for opening a dental college at an occupancy price of Rs 6.56 crore.

The report also speaks of "conflict of interest" in allotment of land to Mumbai Educational Trust, whose founder chairman is former Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, after changing the purpose of reservation.

Yesterday, AICC had steered clear when asked about the Supreme Court pulling up Deshmukh for giving 20 acres of land to film producer Subhash Ghai in 2004 for his film institute allegedly bypassing the rules.