Nagpur, July 9: Former Maharashtra deputy chief minister and NCP MLA Chhagan Bhujbal, who is currently on bail in a money laundering case, today participated in the Legislative Assembly proceedings after two years. Bhujbal entered the Lower House along with his MLA son Pankaj and other legislators of his party soon after the proceedings of the Lower House started at 11 AM.
The monsoon session of the state legislature is currently underway in Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra. Participating in the debate on the supplementary demands, Bhujbal attacked the state government over the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (MERC’s) approval to allow the Reliance Infrastructure to sale its integrated power business in Mumbai to Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) for an estimated value of Rs 18,800 crore. Accusing the government of “fiscal mismanagement”, Bhujbal said the Reliance Energy (read RInfra) owed the government Rs 2,000 crore in taxes since the last two years. “Reliance Energy which supplies electricity to Mumbai suburbs owes the state Rs 2000 crore. How is the government going to recover these dues? The government should take a stand that unless the company pays the amount, it will not be allowed to be sold,” he demanded.
If an ordinary citizen defaults on payment of bills, the money is recovered from him, however, the companies that default on payment are allowed to go scot free, the NCP leader said, adding that state leaders lack guts to recover these pending dues. The Maharashtra government had tabled supplementary demands worth Rs 11,445 crore in the Legislative Assembly last week, inviting criticism by the Opposition parties which accused the BJP-led ruling dispensation of financial mess up by incurring huge debt.
“The government can table supplementary demands up to 3 per cent of the total budgetary provisions and the government has crossed that limit,” he said. Bhujbal said supplementary demands worth Rs 1.56 lakh crore had been tabled in the last three years. “Leaders of the present government used to criticize the then Congress government over supplementary demands whenthey were in opposition….” he said. Bhujbal, who represents Yeola constituency in Nashikdistrict, also hit out at the government over expenses incurred for planting of trees and the issues concerning farmers and tribals. He said the government had failed to keep its assurances that roads in the state would be rid of potholes and that motorists would not have to pay toll. Bhujbal was released on bail by the Bombay High Court in May this year, after spending two years in jail since his arrest in March 2016.