The Newshour Debate: White Paper or whitewash? ( Part 1 of 2)

Political clamour has peaked over the clean chit to former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, in a White Paper on the Maharashtra irrigation scam. Months after Pawar resigned as Deputy CM over the irrigation scam, a White Paper on irrigation projects has given a clean chit to him, justifying all expenses incurred on irrigation projects in Maharashtra. It was Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan who had sought a White Paper on irrigation projects in the state amid reports of huge escalation in cost of several projects and insignificant increase in the land brought under irrigation. Now, top sources have told TIMES NOW that following the White Paper, the Maharashtra government has decided to scrap a judicial inquiry into the scam.

In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Majeed Memon, National secretary, NCP & Senior advocate; Bharat Kumar Raut, MP, Rajya Sabha, Shiv Sena; Anjali Damania, Activist, IAC and Devendra Phadavnis, MLA , BJP -- discuss if the White Paper into the allegedly Rs 70,000 cr scam look more like a whitewash, and whether the scam deserves a more detailed enquiry than just a departmental clean chit