The politics of Maharashtra under the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has become even worse than that of Bihar of the 1990s. Every party in the tri-party alliance has appointed its own ‘vasuli man (a minister whose actual job is extortion on the behalf of the party)’. During Lalu’s infamous ‘gunda raj’, the actual job of a large number of leaders was to extort money and harass the people of upper caste.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government can be safely termed as ‘vasuli raj’ as every party has appointed its ‘vasuli man’. After Anil Desmukh was exposed to having a target of extracting 300 crore rupees every month from business establishment, now in an explosive development, senior Shiv Sena leader and state transport minister Anil Parab – who is known to be close to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray finds himself at the centre of a graft investigation which has been launched by Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey.
The inquiry was ordered after it was revealed by a suspended motor vehicle inspector of the Nashik Regional Transport Office (RTO) that state minister Anil Parab, the state transport commissioner and five other officers were allegedly extorting money to the tune of Rs. 300 crores for postings and transfers within the RTO department.
Anil Deshmukh के बाद Anil Parab
RTO Transfer, ST Ticket, Dapoli Resort, MHADA Land, Role of Bajrang Kharmate & Sachin Vaze, BMC Contractors GHOTALA
Maha Governor, HighCourt, Lokayukta taken cognizance
CBI, ED, NIA, ACB, Nasik Police, Enviroment Ministry, Colector investigating https://t.co/kP8761jJZc
— Kirit Somaiya ( Modi ka Pariwar) (@KiritSomaiya) May 30, 2021
In his complaint, the suspended officer Gajendra Patil has alleged corruption at border check posts; settlement of cases against some private operators and illegal registration of BS-4 vehicles. This, apart from the massive extortion racket that he claims is being run at the behest of Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab within the RTO department. Patil has named state transport minister Anil Parab and six senior officers of the RTO for their alleged role in transfers and postings of RTO officials.
The Congress party must be having its own vasuli minister, but who is s/he and what their source of corruption is, is yet to come out in public. Previously when the Congress and NCP were running a coalition government, massive corruption was revealed – from irrigiation scam to extortion from the real estate sector. And there has been allegations against Shiv Sena through BMC.
Now that the three parties have come together and formed the government, every party has allegedly appointed its person (minister) who solely focuses on extortion. The focus of former Home Minister Anil Desmukh for extortion was the hotels and the Shiv Sena minister is focusing on transport business. The Congress must be having a minister who focuses on some other sector for the same.
Although, after getting exposed, all the ministers suggest that there is a political motive behind the allegations. Reacting to the damning allegations of corruption levelled against him, Anil Parab in a tweet said, “The complaint is filed with a political motive as part of which (the complainant is) trying to project that the state government cannot do anything against such ministers and then demand an inquiry by the CBI through the high court.”
The state minister accused of massive corruption called the complaint filed against him and five other officers baseless, false, and politically motivated. The ministers and goons of Lalu Yadav used to justify the corruption and extortion in the name of social justice and the ministers of the MVA government simply deny them.
