Pankaja Munde blames media for corruption slur

Minister for Rural Development Pankaja Munde, who is fighting allegations of corruption after the Bombay High Court recently struck down her department's tenders worth Rs 12,000 crore to purchase Take Home Ration (THR) for day-care centres (anganwadis), issued her clarification at a press conference yesterday. Munde claimed the news reports had been "misinterpreted".

Minister for Rural Development Pankaja Munde during the monsoon session of Maharashtra Legislature yesterday. Pic/PTI

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' government suffered a setback recently after some self-help groups (SHG) claimed Munde's department had tweaked the THR conditions to favour a cartel of big companies, ignoring the Apex Court's directives to award contracts to SHGs to promote employment among women.

Recently, the HC suggested some changes to the tender. Clarifying the court's orders, Munde said, "Media misinterpreted the court's order. The cost of the tender is Rs 750 crore. The court has advised us to ensure more participation of SHGs and to use the food processing technology the Supreme Court had suggested." She added that the court order has been sent to the law and judicial department for review, to avoid mistakes in its implementation.

Munde received ample support from revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, dairy development minister Mahadev Jankar and food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat, who joined her at the conference.

Mungantiwar said, "Not a single paisa from the tender amount was released because the tendering process was still on. Please do not spread wrong information."

Sources said the ministers stood by Munde to offer moral support, as she's comparatively new to politics. Interestingly, Patil, Mungantiwar and Bapat were junior to her father, late Gopinath Munde in the BJP hierarchy, while Jankar owes his political career to Gopinath Munde, who got him to join hands with BJP in 2014.