Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece, Saamana lauded Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for taking a firm stance against corruption, to discipline the State administration.
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The Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece, Saamana, in an editorial piece on Wednesday (February 26, 2025), lauded Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for taking a firm stance against corruption, to discipline the State administration.
Taking a direct swipe at the former CM and present Deputy CM, Eknath Shinde, the editorial said that during Mr. Shinde’s government, fixers and brokers were fostered, and they had a free run. There were no regulations to check corruption in the State, which led to severe financial mismanagement. These issues led to the decay of State politics under Mr. Shinde, the editorial read.
A large amount of public funds was diverted to buy the political loyalties of MLAs, MPs, corporation staff and office-bearers of the original Shiv Sena and all this happened through illicit deals involving State undertakings such as, MMRDA, MSRDC, MHADA, SRA, and the Urban Development Department. Several corrupt people switched parties to make money from that loot, the editorial alleged.
“Where did the sudden flood of money originate from? The answer is, the money was collected through illegal tenders, fraudulent projects, commission-based fund allocations, land scams and housing project brokerage. The latest update is that Mr. Shinde’s chief collector has fled with ₹10,000 crore to Dubai,” the Saamana editorial said.
‘Tender inflated’
The editorial continued taking digs at Mr. Shinde and said that the anti-corruption drive by the current Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has shaken the Shinde Sena. It alleged, “A ₹500 crore tender was inflated to ₹3,000 crore and in between ₹1,000 crore was siphoned off even before commencement of the project. Out of this ₹100 to ₹200 crore was to be distributed among Shinde Sena loyalists and now all of the money is being used by taking them for a holy dip in the Ganga at Prayagraj.”
Applauding the CM, the editorial piece said that Mr. Fadnavis has begun to dismantle the many networks of corruption breeding in the State. It does not come as a surprise to find Mr. Shinde and his Senas (followers) feeling rattled by the CM’s clean-up corruption project.
“Mr. Fadnavis’s move to revoke the Ministers’ power to appoint personal assistants (PA) and officers on special duty (OSD) was applaudable. Out of the names recommended by cabinet ministers for the position of PA and OSD to the CM for approval, 16 names were rejected by the CM because of their involvement in fixing networks under Mr. Shinde’s government. The CM seems quite clear that he will not give the posts to ‘fixers.’”
Maharashtra under Mr. Shinde functioned like a fair for brokers and fixers where anyone could get projects approved by depositing a percentage of the total contract amount. The end result of this mismanagement was that several development projects were sanctioned recklessly on the eve of elections, but payments to contractors were stalled, which caused them to lose interest in completing their work properly. “The contractors’ associations have said that the previous government owes them nearly ₹90,000 crore for several government projects that are completed, of which ₹25,000 crore has already been given as brokerage fees,” it said.
The editorial further claims that under Mr. Shinde’s regime, contracts were signed to keep MLAs and MPs happy, and it is on the strength of those signed papers that these legislators took crores of money from contractors in exchange for project approvals. “Now that Mr. Fadnavis is scrutinising these deals, the Shinde faction’s calculation seems to have gone haywire as their funding methods have collapsed and they are facing a financial crisis.”
On the French consultancy firm Systra MVA Consulting (India) Pvt. Ltd., which was awarded a contract to provide design consultancy services for three metro lines in Mumbai, and the company’s allegations of commission extortion against the MMRDA, the editorial said that such corruption damages India’s international reputation as foreign companies will think twice before doing business here.
“Mr. Shinde recently met the Union Minister Amit Shah and complained that Mr. Fadnavis is cutting off financial resources to keep MLAs and MPs in his party. If the MPs and MLAs are deprived of funds, it will become difficult for the party to survive.”
While Mr. Shinde is seeking relief from Mr. Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to end corruption. “The PM recently announced, ‘Just tell me the names of those who are taking money, and I will straighten them out one by one.’ Then in such a situation, Mr. Fadnavis should not have any objection to telling Prime Minister Modi the names of Mr. Shinde and his fixers,” the Saamana editorial says.
Published – February 27, 2025 02:20 am IST
