NCP launches full-fledged attack on CM Shinde

Mumbai: Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday launched a full-fledged attack against chief minister Eknath Shinde, a day after another case was filed against its MLA and former minister Jitendra Awhad

Mumbai: Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday launched a full-fledged attack against chief minister Eknath Shinde, a day after another case was filed against its MLA and former minister Jitendra Awhad.

Mumbai, India - November 15, 2022: Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and NCP leader Ajit Pawar addresses the media, at NCP Office, Ballard Pier, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, November 15, 2022. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Leader of opposition Ajit Pawar said that the police are working under pressure; bureaucrats are getting calls directly from the chief minister’s office and this needs to be stopped. He also said that the statements being made by the ministers are tarnishing the state’s image referring to state agriculture minister Abdul Sattar.

Meanwhile, the women’s wing of the NCP held a protest in Mumbai against the abusive remarks made by the state agriculture minister against NCP MP Supriya Sule. They tried to take the protest to Mantralaya but were stopped mid-way. Awhad, who was granted anticipatory bail in the molestation case, also said a conspiracy was hatched to defame him.

On Monday, the Thane police booked Awhad in a molestation case after he allegedly pushed a BJP worker in Thane city late Sunday night. This is the second case filed against him in a week as on Friday, Thane’s Vartak Nagar police arrested Awhad in connection with a rioting case registered against him on charges of disrupting a late-night screening of the Marathi movie ‘Har Har Mahadev’ at Thane’s Viviana Mall multiplex on November 7. He was released on bail by a local court.

The action against the NCP leader has kicked up political controversy in Maharashtra as the opposition alleged political vendetta behind the case.

NCP on Monday alleged that the action against the former housing minister was taken at the behest of chief minister Eknath Shinde as the complainant went to file the case only after meeting him Sunday night. The state NCP chief Jayant Patil also shared pictures of the complainant along with the chief minister claiming they were from the meeting in which the conspiracy was hatched against Awhad.