Investigate ₹12,000 Crore Scam; Exclude Shinde and Two Former Ministers from Cabinet: Aditya Thackeray to CM Fadnavis

New Delhi, Dec 15 (NationPress) Shiv Sena(UBT) MLA Aditya Thackeray on Sunday accused former Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde along with two other former ministers of being implicated in a ₹12,000 crore road scam, urging that they should not be part of the cabinet.

Thackeray called on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ensure that Shinde and the two other ex-ministers remain excluded from the cabinet due to their purported connection to the road scam.

In a message posted on X, Thackeray stated, "If the BJP government is genuinely committed to addressing the road scam, they must keep the then illegal CM Shinde and two guardian ministers from Shinde’s administration - Lodha and Kesarkar - out of the cabinet."

He claimed that the BJP was also criticizing the poor quality of road work and demanded a SIT investigation.

"Moreover, the fact that the BJP is also discussing substandard road work and requesting a SIT only reinforces my assertion - the Shinde administration was involved in two road scams totaling ₹12,000 crores," Thackeray elaborated in his post.

He emphasized that this was the hard-earned money of Mumbai residents, which had been squandered "to benefit contractors and politicians."

Thackeray mentioned in the post that he had been exposing these issues for the past two years.

"I have been revealing these matters for two years, yet the BJP endorsed that regime. For a fresh start, I implore CM Devendra Fadnavis ji to initiate a formal investigation into the road scam," he stated.

The cabinet expansion of the new BJP-led Maharashtra government is anticipated to occur in Nagpur on Sunday, with various new individuals expected to join the council of ministers.

This ambitious initiative, designed to repair 700 km of roads and tackle Mumbai's ongoing pothole issue, was launched after Shinde assumed the role of Chief Minister and managed the Urban Development portfolio.

Thackeray also accused the administration of collusion in contract awards during Shinde's tenure. "The BJP has now called for a SIT investigation into the contracts granted for road construction. We demand an EOW inquiry into this matter," Thackeray had previously stated.

Mumbai BJP Chief Ashish Shelar has also expressed concerns regarding the situation, meeting Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani on Friday to advocate for the establishment of a SIT. Shelar further requested a comprehensive audit involving experts from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) to assess 40 percent of the concretized road sections on a randomized basis.