E-Paper
Rumours won’t get anyone anything: Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sharad Pawar, Amit Shah meeting
Raut’s comments came after local news reports in Gujarat said that Pawar and his party colleague Praful Patel met the Union home minister at a farmhouse in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday dismissed speculations that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Union home minister Amit Shah secretly met in Gujarat, calling for the rumours to end. Raut’s comments came after local news reports in Gujarat said that Pawar and his party colleague Praful Patel met the Union home minister at a farmhouse in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
“Some things should become clear with time, otherwise confusion is created. I can say with confidence that no secret meeting has been held between Sharad Pawar and Amit Shah in Ahmedabad or anywhere. Now put an end to the rumours. It will not get anyone anything,” Raut’s tweet, roughly translated from Hindi, said.
However, Shah on Sunday parried a question over his meeting with Pawar, saying that ‘everything cannot be made public’.
“There is nothing to raise eyebrows over the rumoured meeting between Sharad Pawar and Amit Shah. In fact, a dialogue between leaders of opposition (rival) parties is good. I am saying this provided they actually met each other in Ahmedabad,” the Sena MP was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Assuming that even if the two veteran leaders met secretly, Raut wondered how the news about it came out in the public. He also pointed out that Shah has been known for holding such meetings with leaders from across the political spectrum.
The speculation about the meeting comes in the backdrop of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra facing a crisis over allegations of corruption against state home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh. In a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray last week, former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused Deshmukh of ordering police officials, specifically suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, to extort ₹100 crore every month from bars and restaurants in the city.
Also Read| ‘Everything can't be made public’: Amit Shah on reported meeting with Pawar
Vaze has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and named as the prime accused in the Ambani bomb scare case and is also facing interrogation regarding the death of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, whose car laden with explosives was found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence in February.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded Deshmukh’s resignation from the cabinet and the imposition of President’s rule in Maharashtra.
