Mumbai, Feb. 23: Two days before he is questioned in the stamp paper scandal, Chhagan Bhujbal has alleged that a former Shiv Sena chief minister and the state BJP chief had links with scam mastermind Abdul Karim Telgi.

A harried Bhujbal, the Nationalist Congress Party’s star campaigner and former deputy chief minister, today said he had evidence that Telgi had connections with former Sena chief minister Narayan Rane and state BJP chief Gopinath Munde.

“If I am being called for interrogation, they also must be called to explain what kind of relation they shared with Telgi,’’ the embattled Bhujbal thundered.

The NCP leader’s outburst — with the promise of more “documentary evidence’’ against BJP and Sena ministers — came even as Samajwadi Janata Party MLA Anil Gote told a Pune court he has proof of transport minister Ashok Chavan’s involvement in the scam. Gote is in jail for his Telgi links.

By the end of the day, the flood of allegations prompted a senior police officer to wonder if the names of half the ruling and Opposition leaders would be dragged into the case.

A combative Bhujbal said: “I have agreed to attend the special investigation team’s (SIT) questioning…. And I must say that the SIT has been going about its work in (a) manner that is not above suspicion. While the news that I have been summoned for questioning was leaked to the media, there was nothing when the SIT questioned Opposition leader Narayan Rane… the fact was kept under wraps.”

The NCP leader’s charges against Rane stem from reports that the latter, as cabinet minister, had recommended a vendor’s licence to Telgi associate Madhav Mutta Devadiga (accused no. 39 in the case).

Devadiga, who submitted an application for a stamp vending licence on January 14, 1997, had apparently used his political contacts to obtain the papers; he even got a recommendation from Rane.

A note prepared by the Stamp Duty and Registration Department says former chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rane as well as three ministers and two MLAs had recommended the names of Telgi’s associates for licences between 1994 and 2001.