Fadnavis giving clean chits to tainted ministers: Vikhe Patil

Terming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Maharashtra government a "total failure", Congress on Monday accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of giving clean chits to several tainted ministers.

"Chief Minister Fadnavis is running a single-window scheme of giving clean chits to his ministers. This has led to increase in corruption and decisions that are not good for the state," Leader of Opposition in state legislative assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said in a press conference in Aurangabad.

"Now, the ministers have become confident that even if they do any wrong, or indulge in mismanagement and corruption, the CM is going to give them a clean chit," Patil alleged.

On the issue of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, the Congress leader said, "The policy of the state government on NEET was wrong. We had suggested that an all-party delegation should meet the Prime Minister to discuss the issue linked to career of lakhs of students."

"However, there was no response from the government," he said.

Over the NIA's decision to drop all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Patil alleged, "The government pressurised the NIA. It is an insult to say that the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare was wrong in indicting Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur."

He claimed that former special public prosecutor Rohini Salian and special public prosecutor Avinash had spoken the truth, though the government worked in a "different direction".

Casting doubt over the BJP-led coalition's performance, Patil said he was sure this government will never be able to catch assailants of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.

"The BJP-led state government has failed on all fronts, especially in coping with the drought situation in the state, which is very grim. The government is not taking it seriously, due to which the number of the suicides in the region has gone up. It is not providing succour to the affected farmers," he said.

He demanded a financial assistance of Rs 25,000 per hectare for farmers for sowing from the next month.