Gadkari demands white paper on state's financial situation

Mumbai, Apr 27 (UNI) Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari today said as per a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the state is reeling under a debt of Rs 1,47,000 crore and demanded that in this situation, the government should publish a white paper on the financial situation of the state.

Mr Gadkari told mediapersons here that when the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance left power in 1999, the state was under a debt of Rs 38,000 crore. The debt has now reached staggering heights, he said.

He alleged that the CAG report was deliberately kept for the last day of the session so that there could not be a discussion on the same.

Apart from the financial crisis, the state is also facing a 16-hr load-shedding and the law and order situation was deteriorating with every passing day, besides the suicides of 1,000 farmers in the state so far, he said.

Mr Gadkari said the state government should appeal in Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court verdict on the lifting of ban on controversial book on Chhatrapati Shivaji by James Laine. He appealed to publishers of the book not to distribute it in India.

On the statement by former MP Banwarilal Purohit, Mr Gadkari said ''I know Mr Purohit very well. If he has said so, there must be substance in his statement.'' Mr Purohit had said former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi had allowed the 'shilanyas' to be held at the disputed site in Ayodhya in 1989, to signal the start of the construction of the Ram temple there. This was in support to Congress from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the Lok Sabha elections due that year as per a secret pact.

Mr Gadkari said he had received a notice by state DGP Dr P S Pasricha against whom he had made allegations of amassing wealth disproportionate to his income.

''I welcome the notice and I will give details of all the 'Benami' properties purchased by Dr P S Pasrciha all over Maharashtra,'' Gadkari added.

UNI