The Congress-led Opposition alleged that kickbacks amounting to Rs 200 crore were pocketed while awarding contracts worth Rs 2,000 crore when Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde held additional charge of the irrigation department. Munde replied, saying the Irrigation Department witnessed unprecedented corruption during the erstwhile Congress rule. ``All the charges levelled against me are baseless. Under the Sena-BJP rule, the entire administration of the newly set up Krishna Valley Development Corporation (KVDC) is clean and transparent,'' he told the lower House amid sloganeering by the Opposition.

Initiating the debate, Congress member Raosaheb Patil said the alliance government and senior KVDC officials had been flouting rules while awarding contracts. For instance, Patilclaimed, the department had invited tenders for supply of pumps worth Rs 100 crore. ``The advertisement stipulated that the company's turnover be at least Rs 75 crore and the firm should itself be a manufacturer of pumps. However, it later amended the condition to favour a Delhi-based firm,'' he pointed out.

Accordingly, the turnover was reduced to Rs 25 crore and the conditions were diluted to make contractors also eligible, he added. Patil claimed this was done to favour Subash Projects Ltd, a Delhi-based firm which has links with a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Maharashtra. However, the firm had been blacklisted by the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh Governments last year for its failure to keep its commitments, he said. Referring to the raid on the residence of chief engineer Ashok Patil, who was caught by the police while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh, Patil said this was a fallout of ``deep-rooted'' politics between the BJP and Shiv Sena.

Former irrigation minister Rohidas Patil(Congress) endorsed the charges levelled by Raosaheb Patil, saying that when Munde was irrigation minister he awarded contracts worth Rs 2,000 crore in blatant violation of tender conditions. ``There are reports that Munde received at least Rs 200 crore in these contracts,'' he said Munde said the charges were levelled merely to defame him. ``During the erstwhile Congress rule, particularly between 1993 and 1995, major contracts were awarded to one A P Vyankayya Reddy from Andhra Pradesh for at least 50 per cent above the tender value of the projects,'' Munde alleged, reeling off a list of more than a 25 projects awarded during the Congress rule.