Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat finds himself at the centre of mutliple controversies, the latest being allegations of corruption by social activist Anjali Damania.
She claimed a Rs 2,000 crore March tender - for sanitation and maintenance of government-run hostels and residential schools - was rigged to favour a few politically-connected companies.
This is the latest in a series of setbacks for Shirsat, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis forming a committee to investigate alleged irregularities in the sale of a hotel in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The deal involved a company owned by Shirsat's son, Siddhant.
The headline-grabbing setback, however, was when a video emerged of Shirsat sitting in his innerwear and smoking on a hotel room bed with a bag that seemed to be full of cash.
READ | Day After Tax Notice, Maharashtra Minister Seen With 'Bag Full Of Cash'
Shirsat - a four-time MLA from Aurangabad (West) who belongs to the Shiv Sena faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde - promptly received an income tax notice.
So what is the latest controversy surrounding Shirsat?
The March tender flagged by Ms Damania covered 433 government-run hostels, 353 residential primary schools, as well as 35 district-level 'Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Social Justice Bhavans'.
Sanjay Shirsat seen in a hotel room with a bag of what seems to be cash.
According to Damania, the tender clubbed three unrelated services - sanitation, manpower, and infrastructure maintenance - into a single bid "to clearly benefit certain contractors".
"These categories have no functional connection, yet they were brought under one umbrella..." she alleged, pointing also to various discrepancies in the tender documents.
These included salaries for over 2,000 'site attendants' not being clearly defined There were also questions over the recruitment of security personnel, a process usually handled by the Maharashtra State Security Corporation but bypassed by renaming them 'site attendants'.
In addition, the tender conditions were so restrictive that only three companies - Crystal (owned by the BJP's Prasad Lad, a member of the state Legislative Council), Smart Services (linked to the National Congress Party's Hasan Mushrif, and BVG India, qualified.
"These companies have already secured multiple government contracts... ranging from women and child welfare schemes to ambulance services. Now, even milk and catering contracts are being handed to them. It is a closed loop of political-business collusion," Ms Damania claimed.
She also pointed out these companies would earn a staggering 19.5 per cent interest on the contract value in case of delayed payments from the state government's side.
Meanwhile, Shirasat has avoided all questions from the media.
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