State Water Conservation Minister Ram Shinde has landed in a controversy after a video clip in which he is allegedly seen urinating by the roadside surfaced on social media on Sunday.
The incident occurred on a stretch on the Solapur-Barshi road. Mr. Shinde said he was feeling ill after spending nearly a month touring the State.
“I have been travelling continuously for the last one month, reviewing the Jalyukta Shivar scheme. Continuous travelling in high temperatures and dust made me ill. I was suffering from fever today and when I couldn’t find a toilet while travelling, I had to relieve myself in the open,” he said.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), however, said the minister not finding a toilet on a highway shows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swacch Bharat Abhiyan has failed.
“It is now proved that the government has been looting people in the name of Swacch Bharat cess on petrol and diesel,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.
