Mumbai,Dec 02, TEN Network | Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has rebuffed the sensational claims made by BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde in a video that Fadnavis was made CM for 80 hours so that he could move funds worth Rs 40,000 crore to the Centre. Before calling all the allegations false, Fadnavis asserted that no such major policy decision was taken by him as the CM.
Earlier in the day, a video surfaced on social media where former union minister and BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde could be seen claiming that the recent political drama in Maharashtra was staged by the BJP. He went on to add that Devendra Fadnavis was made CM in a surprising turn of events and within 15 hours of him assuming the CM chair, Rs 40,000 crore meant for state development was moved back to the Centre.
Hegde further claimed that the funds were moved back to the Centre so that the ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ (MVA), a coalition of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena and NCP, couldn’t benefit from it.
As soon as the video stirred a political storm, BJP issued a clarification saying Anantkumar Hegde was reading a WhatsApp forward message which has been doing rounds from past eight days. The party said it was a message read out in light vein and was not Hegde’s opinion.
However, it did not go down well with the MVA leaders. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut called it a “treachery with Maharashtra” while NCP leader Nawab Malik demanded a probe into the matter and stressed that if the allegations are found true then PM Modi should resign.
Later, Devendra Fadnavis rebuffed all the claims made in the video. While speaking to media, he said, “I refuse all the allegations. They don’t have a shred of truth in it. The Centre did not demand any money and no amount was released from the state. I did not take any major policy decisions in my second term as the CM.”
“Anybody who understands how accounting between the Centre and state governments works know such amount of money cannot be moved from state to Centre just like that. I appeal to the finance ministry to launch an investigation into this matter and bring the truth out in front of the people,” added Fadnavis. (TN)
