Monday Musings: A common thread that links the trio

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In June 2013, life had come full circle for Sundew apartment, a highly controversial apartment building in Pune that had become the reason for the political downfall of former Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi.

The ten-storey apartment at Pune’s up-market Prabhat road area – Sundew – in the era of Adarsh-like scams, stood as a classic example of misuse of power by public figures such as Joshi. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) later turned it into an English-medium kindergarten after a long legal battle.

Today, when Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is facing a political onslaught from his opponents like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after his brother-in-law Shreedhar Madhav Patankar’s name came up during Enforcement Directorate’s investigation, the earlier case involving Joshi draws a common thread.

But it does not end here.

Former Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan too had to step down from the post of the chief minister after his mother-in-law Bhagvati Manoharlal Sharma was found to be the beneficiary of a flat in Adarsh housing society, located in Colaba area in Mumbai.

The building was originally built to house war heroes and war widows of 1999 Kargil war.

Two of Chavan’s other relatives too had got flats in Adarsh. Facing serious allegations, Chavan had to resign as CM in November 2010 as it was alleged that as revenue minister, he was responsible for the inclusion of civilians in the Adarsh society and influenced the inclusion of his relatives. Besides Chavan’s mother-in-law, his father-in-law’s brother Madanlal Sharma and his sister-in-law Seema Sharma also had flats in the building.

In Joshi’s case, he had to resign as chief minister in 1998 after serving in the top position as his son-in-law was found violating the rules while constructing the building.

While converting the residential building for school ensured that the illegal construction is to be used for the purpose it was originally meant for, an example set for other controversial apartments too.

Joshi’s son-in-law and highly influential builder Girish Vyas constructed Sundew during the 1990s when the Shiv Sena-BJP combine was in the power. Vyas Construction, owned by Joshi’s son-in-law, illegally erected 24 flats on 30,000 square feet plot, originally meant for school as per the reservation guidelines laid out in the Development Plan (DP).

Joshi in his capacity as chief minister with an additional incharge of urban development ministry changed the reservation on the plot and shifted it to another site beyond 200 metres. In this way Joshi violated the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, kicking up a major political storm that eventually resulted in Joshi’s resignation in 1999.

In October 2011, the Supreme Court upheld the High court’s order asking Vyas to either hand over the much-sought apartment to the PMC or demolish the building. Following the court order, Vyas handed over the building to PMC, which in turn received as many as five applications from various organisations seeking permission for using the apartment for social projects.

In the current case, Patankar’s name in the ED probe may prove costly for Thackerays. According to ED, it has provisionally attached 11 residential flats of city-based Pushpak Bullion at a real estate project developed by Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt Ltd, a company promoted by Patankar, who is in his 50s. The ED is probing Pushpak Bullion for money laundering for allegedly accepting demonetised currency of 84.5 crore against 258 kg of gold between November and December 2016. The agency claims Pushpak Bullion gave over Rs30 crore from the proceeds to Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti as unsecured loans.

Like Vyas, Patankar too attempted to stay out of the limelight. Earlier too allegations were made against Patankar, the younger brother of Rashmi Thackeray, by political opponents of Sena. In the past, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had raised questions about Patankar’s investments and businesses.

As political slugfest continues over the issue there’s a lesson that politicians can learn based on what senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari said – “Never allow in-laws to mingle with your work.” Gadkari said this in a jovial mood during his visit to Sangli last week.


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