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Bhujbal finger in Coalgate pie: Somaiya
Seeking to widen the dragnet in the coal mine allocation scam, BJP’s national secretary Kirit Somaiya on Friday rooted for alleged links between Maharashtra PWD Chhagan Bhujbal’s family-owned Armstrong Energy Private Ltd and Manoj Jaiswal’s Abhijeet Group, whose firm figures in an FIR filed by the CBI in the coal allocation scam.
Hours after he submitted 12,000 pages in 24 files of “evidence” to the CBI here, Somaiya said that the “evidence” that he had given to the central investigating agency related to the alleged involvement of six ministers.
Somaiya said the six Ministers included Union Ministers Subodh Kant Sahay and Sriprakash Jaiswal, Maharashtra Ministers Rajendra Darda and Chhagan Bhujbal and two more Ministers — one from the Maharashtra Cabinet and another one from the Delhi State Cabinet.
Addressing a news conference at the State BJP headquarters here, Somaiya alleged that Bhujbal had given a Rs 1,256-crore PWD contract to the Abhijeet group four months ago on the Akola-Waranga-Hingoli road. “A probe should be ordered whether Armstrong Energy was a front for Abhijeet group,” he said.
Somaiya charged that there was no business activity in the Armstrong Energy except purchasing two coal mines in Singapore and Indonesia for the Bhujbal’s power plant in Nashik.
The BJP leader alleged that apart from Bhujbal, Maharashtra Education Minister Rajendra Darda and two more ministers from Maharashtra were involved in the scam. “I will release the details of the two other Ministers later,” Somaiya said.
Somaiya said that he would meet Governor K Sankaranarayanan next week to demand dismissal of Rajendra from the State Cabinet if he did not resign on his own by then.
Somaiya pegged the kickbacks in the allotment coal mines to 25 companies — which he had probed so far, at `40,000 crore kickbacks in allotment of coal mines. He said that he had submitted a list of 168 companies which had financial transactions with companies headed by the family members of Jaiswal, Sahay and Darda.
Meanwhile, Bhujbal’s nephew and NCP MP Samir Bhujbal denied outright Somaiya’s allegations. He also contested Somaiya’s allegation linking Armstrong Energy to coal allocation scam.
“Armstrong Energy is a Bagasse-based power plant in Nashik. For its expansion, I have applied for a coal mine in Indonesia.The acquisition process is yet to be completed… The allegations made by Somaiya are baseless,” Samir added.
Seeking to widen the dragnet in the coal mine allocation scam, BJP’s national secretary Kirit Somaiya on Friday rooted for alleged links between Maharashtra PWD Chhagan Bhujbal’s family-owned Armstrong Energy Private Ltd and Manoj Jaiswal’s Abhijeet Group, whose firm figures in an FIR filed by the CBI in the coal allocation scam.
Hours after he submitted 12,000 pages in 24 files of “evidence” to the CBI here, Somaiya said that the “evidence” that he had given to the central investigating agency related to the alleged involvement of six ministers.
Somaiya said the six Ministers included Union Ministers Subodh Kant Sahay and Sriprakash Jaiswal, Maharashtra Ministers Rajendra Darda and Chhagan Bhujbal and two more Ministers — one from the Maharashtra Cabinet and another one from the Delhi State Cabinet.
Addressing a news conference at the State BJP headquarters here, Somaiya alleged that Bhujbal had given a Rs 1,256-crore PWD contract to the Abhijeet group four months ago on the Akola-Waranga-Hingoli road. “A probe should be ordered whether Armstrong Energy was a front for Abhijeet group,” he said.
Somaiya charged that there was no business activity in the Armstrong Energy except purchasing two coal mines in Singapore and Indonesia for the Bhujbal’s power plant in Nashik.
The BJP leader alleged that apart from Bhujbal, Maharashtra Education Minister Rajendra Darda and two more ministers from Maharashtra were involved in the scam. “I will release the details of the two other Ministers later,” Somaiya said.
Somaiya said that he would meet Governor K Sankaranarayanan next week to demand dismissal of Rajendra from the State Cabinet if he did not resign on his own by then.
Somaiya pegged the kickbacks in the allotment coal mines to 25 companies — which he had probed so far, at `40,000 crore kickbacks in allotment of coal mines. He said that he had submitted a list of 168 companies which had financial transactions with companies headed by the family members of Jaiswal, Sahay and Darda.
Meanwhile, Bhujbal’s nephew and NCP MP Samir Bhujbal denied outright Somaiya’s allegations. He also contested Somaiya’s allegation linking Armstrong Energy to coal allocation scam.
“Armstrong Energy is a Bagasse-based power plant in Nashik. For its expansion, I have applied for a coal mine in Indonesia.The acquisition process is yet to be completed… The allegations made by Somaiya are baseless,” Samir added.
