Author: Mahesh Mhatre
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 1, 2006
Introduction: A month after RR Patil promised
action in the House, nothing has moved
At a time when chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh
is giving speeches on the root cause of farmer's suicide, his deputy and home
minister R R Patil is sitting on the promise of action against Congress MLA
Dilip Sananda's father facing charges of illegal money-lending.
"Sorry, I don't know the present status
of the case," said Patil after this correspondent asked him about his
statement on the floor of the State Assembly a month ago.
As first reported in The Indian Express, no
less than chief minister Deshmukh came out in support of the Sanandas when
the Buldhana police filed cases against the MLA and his family members, one
of the biggest "sahukars" of the Vidarbha region.
The issue was raised on July 22 in the Assembly
by Opposition parties who asked the home minister about the government's inaction
in the matter of illegal moneylenders who were "exploiting farmers in
the Vidarbha region."
In his reply, Patil denied allegations the
government was trying to shield the Sanandas and added the state was moving
court to vacate the anticipatory bail that the Khamgaon MLA's father had got
in order to proceed in the cases against him.
But when Patil was asked about the government's
plan of action, an awkward home minister didn't have much to say. "Ask
Krishna Prakash," he said, referring to the superintendent of police
who has been unceremoniously transferred from Buldhana to Amravati for having
pursued the cases against the Sanandas.
Meanwhile, MLA Sananda - police records show
over 40 cases are registered against his family for illegal money-lending,
land-grabbing to kidnapping, manhandling to torture- has no reason to complain.
"R R Patil is helping me. He is a good
man," he said from his residence at Khamgaon.
However, he continued to be critical of the
state police, comparing it to that of Bihar. "They deliberately lodged
complaints against me by forcing people to come forward (with complaints).
They do what they can to trouble me," he said.
Asked about the home minister's assurance
of action against his father in the Assembly, Sananda replied that the state
now realises the cases against him are weak. "Even the government pleader
accepted our argument and we got interim bails for all the four cases. Now
I'm going to concentrate on the remaining 15 cases which are pending in the
office of the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Department, " he said
confidently.
"Within a month I will get justice and
then I will hold a big Press conference to prove my innocence," he added.
