Former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan, responded on Monday to allegations made by retired IPS officer Meeran Chadha Borwankar in her new book, 'Madam Commissioner,' regarding Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
In her book, Borwankar has claimed that the then district minister had insisted in 2010 that she complete the process of handing over an auctioned plot belonging to her department to the winning bidder, who was later cited as an accused by the CBI in the 2G scam. While the book doesn't explicitly mention the district minister's name, the retired IPS officer's statements appear to allude to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar. He held the position of guardian minister for Pune district during the tenure of the Congress-NCP government in the state.
Responding to these claims, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan clarified, "I have not read the entire book but there are two different issues in this entire case. First, about the land deal and second, about the transfer thing. Please understand I became CM in November 2010, the deal happened before that. The deal did not happen during my tenure and, therefore, I don't have any knowledge about it."
Chavan went on to address the transfer process, emphasizing that senior IPS officers often request specific postings.
"About the transfer thing, many senior IPS officers request their desired postings. However, the transfer is done by a transfer board and committee. They recommend transfer. All requests for the posting cannot be fulfilled. So she (Meeran Chadha Borwankar) might have got calls from me or CM's office. I don't remember it properly, but her request might not have been approved. It is a regular procedure. Some requests get accepted, some don't," he further added.