Maharashtra: Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray meet amid action against Anil Deshmukh

Days after enforcement directorate (ED) raids and summons for questioning to former home minister Anil Deshmukh, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar reportedly raised the issue with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday. Both the leaders reportedly discussed a strategy to deal with the situation amid the “rampant misuse of central agencies” to “defame the state”.

Pawar met the CM at Varsha, official residence of the chief minister, where both the leaders had an hour-long discussion. State home minister Dilip Walse Patil and Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale were also present.

The NCP is upset with the way the central agencies targeted Deshmukh. On June 25, ED conducted a nine-hour raid at multiple locations related to Deshmukh in Mumbai and Nagpur. Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at various locations including Deshmukh’s Mumbai residence in May.

Recently, the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit has passed a resolution demanding a CBI probe against deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and transport minister Anil Parab based on allegations made by former police officer Sachin Vaze.

The NCP is of the view that MVA ministers are being targeted to trouble the state. “We need a strategy to counter their propaganda against the MVA government. By passing a resolution in the state executive committee meeting, the BJP has cleared their intention to continue a smear campaign. Pawar saheb and Thackeray are likely to have discussed the same,” said a senior NCP minister requesting anonymity.

Vaze, who is in National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody in the Antilia bomb scare case, wrote a letter in April alleging that he was asked by the respective ministers to extort money from businessmen and contractors. The charges were also leveled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Singh brought up the charges through a letter three days after being transferred from his post to Commandant General of Home Guards, Maharashtra, on March 17.

Shiv Sena spokesperson and senior leader Sanjay Raut also hinted the same saying that CM Thackeray, Pawar and Congress ministers will take a decision on the matter. “Deshmukh has his own side, which needs to be understood. BJP leaders too have faced similar allegations in the past. Are they really clean? The people of the state need to think about this,” Raut told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, hours before the meeting between the two.

On Monday, Raut met the chief minister at his official residence from where he went to meet Pawar at his residence, Silver Oak, in the afternoon. After a two-hour long meeting, he again went to meet Thackeray.

Nawab Malik, minority affairs minister and NCP chief spokesperson, alleged that the BJP is misusing the central agencies to run a malign campaign against MVA, its parties and leaders and the agencies are working under pressure from BJP led central government.

“Singh made the allegations only after he was transferred from his position of Mumbai police commissioner. Some officials are working under pressure from the BJP-led central government,” Malik told reporters after a meeting of senior leaders and ministers at Praful Patel’s residence in south Mumbai on Tuesday.

On June 25, Deshmukh said he was falsely implicated in the extortion case. He also said that the gelatin sticks were planted when Singh was the Mumbai police chief. Five police officials including Sachin Vaze, Riyazuddin Kazi, Vinayak Shinde, Prakash Dhumal and Sunil Mane were associated with the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) at Mumbai police commissionerate and were directly reporting to Singh. He alleged that Singh was moved from the position as his role was suspicious in the Antilia bomb scare case.Following the allegations, Deshmukh stepped down as state home minister on April 5.