No senior minister, came in to support at her first press conference after ‘chikki’ scam came to fore
Mumbai : Under attack from all quarters for alleged irregularities in awarding contracts for materials worth Rs 206 crore for school children, women and child welfare minister Pankaja Munde on Wednesday denied any scam and termed the entire controversy as nothing but mere ‘scam of words’.
While the young leader was taking every question confidently and put on a brave front, what was surprising was that no senior minister attended the press meet to offer moral support or to defend her during the time of crisis. Only Ghatkopar MLA and housing minister Prakash Mehta came for the press conference, but that too at the last moment.
However, to defend education minister Vinod Tawade, who is also embroidered in scam of Rs 191 crore, two senior ministers was present in the press briefing on Tuesday. Despite being appointed by the CM as the spokesperson and entrusted with the responsibility to defend the BJP ministers and the State government, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar too gave the event a miss.
When asked her about these ministers, Pnakaja Munde said the two ministers, Mungantiwar and Chandrakant Patil had prior engagements and she had spoken to them. “However, the CM and my party ministers are with me and I have support of lakhs and crores of supporters,” she claimed.
Munde tried to show her strength by getting in Rashtriya Samaj Paksh leader Mahadev Jankar, her sister and BJP MP Preetam Munde, along with a large number of supporters from her constituency at the conference.
