Pankaja denies scam, says she saved govt money

Further delay would have hit funds sent by the centre to Maharashta

GN Bureau | July 1, 2015


#pankaja munde   #pankaja munde bjp scam   #pankaja munde scam  

Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde, under attack in two instance of scams, has firmly denied that she has done anything wrong.

On Wednesday, addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Munde gave a point-by-point rebuttal of the charges against her.

Asserting that all allegations against her were "politically motivated", Munde reiterated that she followed the rate contracts put into place by the previous Congress regime.

The Maharashtra leader said that while several things were coming up in different sections of media, she had convened the press conference to give the true picture.

The BJP leader claimed that the opposition had prepared a file of allegations against her and gave it to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the first week of May. She added that the chief minister did not find any wrongdoing on her part.

Asserting that all allegations against her were "politically motivated", the BJP leader reiterated that she followed the rate contracts put into place by the previous Congress regime, adding that she had flouted no rules.

Apart from being accused of flouting norms in Rs 206 crore Chikki Scam, Munde is also under the scanner for awarding a contract for a construction of a dam to a private company, even though the company was disqualified.

Pankaja clarified that funds released by the Centre would have lapsed if there would have been further delay in ordering purchase of good by the women and child development department. "My intention was to save every penny of the government fund," she claimed.

"There is no question of favouring anyone. Contractors who were given contracts are not new. Same contractors have been supplying goods during the NCP government's regime. The contract process was started by the last government," Pankaja said.

The scam first came to light on June 15, when the office of Pankaja Munde received a letter from Ahmednagar Zila Parishad president Manjushree Gund complaining about the quality of chikki (a popular snack) distributed to tribal students under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).

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