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‘Missing’ Shahapur MLA releases video, says he is with NCP
Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Shahapur legislator Daulat Daroda, who was assumed to be ‘missing’, released a video on Sunday stating that he was safe. He also
Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Shahapur legislator Daulat Daroda, who was assumed to be ‘missing’, released a video on Sunday stating that he was safe. He also said that he would “abide by the decisions taken by Ajit and Sharad Pawar”.
“These are all rumours about me. I am safe and have not left the NCP. I contested the Assembly polls on NCP ticket and there is should be no doubts about me being with the party. I will abide by the decision taken by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar and have appealed to all my party workers to not believe in any rumour,” he said in the video.
On Saturday evening, after party leaders failed to establish contact with him, former Shahapur legislator Pandurang Barora filed a missing complaint with the police. Barora claimed that Daroda went missing after he visited the Raj Bhavan in the morning, after Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister (CM) and NCP’s Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as the deputy CM.
“I have learnt that he is not in Shahapur from Friday night. His phone is unreachable and he did not communicate with anyone before leaving. So we decided to file a missing complaint, we have no information about him,” Barora told HT on Saturday, after giving a written application of the complaint to the police.
The police however, did not register a missing case on Saturday, claiming that Daroda was not missing and is in Mumbai.
“The former MLA gave a written application to the police, which we have accepted. But we had not registered a missing case yet, as we believed that Daroda is in Mumbai and is not missing. Today he has released his video stating that he is safe,” Ghanshyam Adhav, police inspector, Shahapur police station on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the NCP on Sunday said that one of its ‘missing’ MLAs, Anil Patil, has “expressed faith” in the leadership of Sharad Pawar, indicating his return to the party. Patil was among the dozen odd MLAs who attended the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday morning. In a tweet, Patil said he went to the Raj Bhawan since Ajit Pawar was the legislature party leader. “I wasn’t aware about what was going to happen at the Raj Bhawan. I am with Sharad Pawar,” his tweet read.
NCP spokesman Nawab Malik took to Twitter on Sunday and tagged Patil’s tweet. Malik said this was an indication of Patil’s return to the party fold. “Anil Patil has indicated he is with the party led by Sharad Pawar. Ahmedpur MLA Babasaheb Patil is also expected to return. The rest will follow,” he said.
In a yet another significant development, BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Kakade and NCP leaders Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Baban Shinde, who is considered close to Ajit Pawar, met Sharad Pawar at his residence here in the morning. After the 15-minute meeting, Kakade said he came to meet Pawar for “personal work”.
Congress state chief and senior party leader Ashok Chavan also met Sharad Pawar. Later, Chavan told reporters that the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena will form government as they “have the numbers”. “All the missing NCP MLAs will return to the party fold soon. The Congress MLAs are all together,” he said. (With PTI inputs)
