Mumbai, Oct 24 (PTI) NCP leader Dhananjay Munde Wednesday claimed to have in possession a letter purportedly written by Vinayak Mete, who heads a supervisory committee for Shivaji memorial project, to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alleging "corruption and illegality" in the tender process.

The Leader of Opposition in the Legislation Council also demanded fresh process for tendering and cancellation of the old one. He also demanded a judicial probe into the episode.

Referring to the letter, purportedly written on September 15, Munde said following an "illegal and corrupt process to appoint the contractor for installing an equestrian statue in the Arabian Sea was an insult to the people of the state".

"The letter Mete wrote to the Chief Minister is very shocking. It talks about illegal and corrupt practices being followed in awarding the contract," Munde said in a statement.

"Therefore, the tender process be cancelled and a new one should be initiated. A judicial probe must be initiated into the entire episode," he added.

He further said that Mete's allegations purportedly made by Mete were "authentic" since he is the head of the project memorial committee formed by the government.

The allegations made in connection with the Rs 2500-crore (plus GST) project need to be taken seriously, Munde added.

According to Munde, Mete has alleged that the committee was kept in dark about the tender process to benefit the contractor and that the work order was issued without any administrative and technical approval to the project.

Mete has also alleged that officials concerned were being pressurised to prepare an agreement and issue the work orders keeping in view monetary interests.

Munde said that the officials charged by Mete should be immediately removed from their respective posts. He also called for black listing the contractor in case the firm is found to be involved in alleged irregularities and corruption.

"People following a certain ideology have time and again been insulting King Shivaji...Never has been (Shivaji) Maharaj been insulted in the state like this. But this government will have to pay for the insult," Munde added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed the "jal poojan" for the ambitious project in December 2016.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the project lacked a technical approval.

"The state government is misleading the people by trying to make them believe that they are starting the work," he claimed.

However, BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye denied the allegations.

"The tender process was executed in a transparent manner and as per norms. All decisions were taken by a high-level committee headed by the state chief secretary. Even Vinayak Mete is aware of all this. This is the reason he took some journalists along with him for the event to mark beginning of the work for the project in Arabian sea today. This is the childing attempt of the Opposition to spoil today's event by digging out some old letter," he claimed. PTI

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)