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Did nothing wrong, intention was to save Govt fund: Pankaja Munde on scam charges

by IBNS 30 Jun 2015, 11:14 pm

Mumbai, Jul 1 (IBNS) Maharashtra minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pankaja Munde, who has been accused of being involved in a Rs. 200-crore scam, on Wednesday denied charges saying all allegations were politically motivated.

Munde, who returned from the UK on Tuesday called a press conference to give rebuttal of the charges brought against her.

The minister for Women and Child Welfare Development said the opposition had prepared a file of allegations and gave it to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the first week of May.

However, the Chief Minister did not find any wrongdoing on her part, she claimed.

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee had alleged that purchases worth Rs206 crore were made by the Women and Child Welfare Development Department  without inviting e-tenders as per the guidelines prescribed by the general administrative department.

The MPCC  alleged that Munde reportedly issued 24 government resolutions in one day to issue purchase orders for all the said materials, a move that has aroused suspicions.

But Munde insisted that she had followed the rate contracts put into place by the previous Congress regime and  flouted no rules.

She said that funds released by the Centre would have lapsed if there would have been further delay in ordering purchase of good by her 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.

, Munde is also under the scanner of the Anti Corruption Department  for awarding a contract for a construction of a dam to a private company, even though the company was disqualified.