Land scam: Congress backs Vilasrao Deshmukh

New Delhi, Apr 5: The major political party Congress has defended Former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh after he is indicted in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report. Congress sources on Thursday, Apr 5, said that the party can't sack a minister on the basis of CAG report.

CAG reported irregularities in Gujarat, but no action has been action taken so far, Congress sources claimed. While, BJP and Shiv Sena have demanded Deshmukh's resignation after he is indicted in the report.

A leaked report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has reportedly indicted Deshmukh for allotting 23,840 sq m plot in Mumbai to Manjara Charitable Trust in 2005 for opening a dental college at Rs 6.56 crore, while the auditor allegedly claimed that the market value of the land was Rs 30 crore. "This reveals that requisitioning of the land was just with an intention to holding on to it," the report said.

On the other hand, when the dental college was not set up, the state government incurred a loss for not re-claiming the land as the terms of the agreement with the trust was not clear and the government could not choose to go out of the deal.

On Wednesday, Apr 4, Supreme Court indicted Deshmukh for allotting 21 acres of land at a cheap price to Bollywood film-maker Subhash Ghai in 2004 for his film academy.

OneIndia News