PUNE The announcement of the appointment of Saroj Patil, sister of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar and wife of the late former minister Nyandeo D Patil, as the head of the Maharashtra Andhashradha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), has led to a public display of the deepening cracks between the old guard and the new leadership of the trust.
The late ND Patil was a founding member and chairperson of the Samiti up until his death on January 17.
Avinash Patil, who worked closely with primary founder Narendra Dabholkar, has been an office bearer and a vocal critic of the working style of Dabholkar’s children - Mukta Dabholkar and Hamid Dabholkar.
Dabholkar was shot dead by two two bike-borne assailants on August 20, 2013, near Omkareshwar bridge while he was on a morning walk.
“Even after multiple discussions with the Hamid– Mukta led group, the democratic and working style of MANS that was established through the 30 years’ worth of the organisation’s work, was not acceptable to them. This faction started by them took over the mouthpiece of the organisation that has been operational for almost 30 years… for the financial dealings of Mans, a trust was formed in 1993 and registered in Satara. Prataprao Pawar is the founding chairman of the trust. After the death of Narendra Dabholkar the position of founding executive president was given to his wife Sheila Dabholkar. The account of the trust of the organisation has Rs7crore that was gathered over the past 25 years by the continuous work of members and workers of the organisation. The family dominated faction has taken over the trust with its accounts,” reads a part of the statement issued by Patil.
Members of the Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, who have remained tight-lipped about the comments made by Patil over the past year, have also issued a statement refuting all the claims made by him.
{{/usCountry}}Members of the Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, who have remained tight-lipped about the comments made by Patil over the past year, have also issued a statement refuting all the claims made by him.
{{/usCountry}}“Avinash Patil, Who was asked to leave the organisation last year, has started his own organisation called Vivek Jagar, and he has been repeatedly told to not use the organisation’s name, as we do not have any operational or financial relation with him anymore. We further state that Hamid and Mukta Dabholkar are not trustees of the MANS’ trust. The two along with all the other trustees have never drawn money from the trust accounts. On the contrary they have found donations for the trust on multiple occasions. In fact, the MANS’ trust functions in a space that was given to the trust by the Dabholkar family for free and the newspaper is also published from there,” reads a statement from Deepak Girme, secretary, MANS trust.
“These blatantly false allegations have been made out of personal malice. We are not trustees of the MANS trust. We have never taken money in form of salary or even travel expense from the trust. We are common workers of the MANS initiative and will remain so. When the time is right we will make a detailed statement of our side,” read a statement by Mukta and Hamid Dabholkar.
The development comes at a time when Narendra Dabholkar’s murder trial has begun in the court of special judge SR Navander. The defence lawyers of the five accused in the case have long been raising the issue of financial misgivings with the trust.
However, Hamid Dabholkar, who was examined as a prosecution witness during the trial, has refuted all the claims made by the defence in the court.