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Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray on damage control mode as cop’s arrest singes MVA
NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar is believed to have expressed his unhappiness at the way the MVA government handled the Sachin Vaze case.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar met Monday afternoon to deliberate on damage control measures after the arrest of police officer Sachin Vaze by the NIA in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case left the MVA government singed, people familiar with the development said.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole also met Thackeray later as the government went on a crisis management overdrive.
The MVA government is likely to take a few corrective measures in its bid to put an end to the controversy and a few heads are likely to roll in the police department.
Assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze’s arrest by the NIA is seen as a major setback for the MVA government. The opposition BJP has hit out at the Thackeray-led government and alleged that the chief minister was shielding the officer.
According to the MVA leaders, Pawar and Thackeray discussed a strategy to find the way out from the crisis.
“Sharad Pawar was not happy with the way the Sachin Vaze case was handled by the MVA government and lack of efforts put in to control the damage. He is said to have expressed his displeasure over the attempt made by the chief minister and home department to shield the controversial police officer despite his role in the bomb scare case coming to the fore,” said a NCP leader privy to the developments.
The leader said that the state government is likely to make an attempt to distance itself from the entire episode involving Vaze and instead point at it as a misdeed of a few officials.
Shiv Sena's top leaders Anil Parab and Eknath Shinde were also said to be present for the meeting.
The NCP chief, who later held a marathon meeting with ministers from his party and senior leaders, has reportedly told the state leadership to take immediate corrective measures.
There have been speculations that Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and home minister Anil Deshmukh could be replaced but NCP’s Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil dismissed them as rumours.
“These are just rumours as there is no such proposal of change in the leadership of the home department. Pawar saheb met the CM to discuss various issues related to the people of the state. It was just one of the routine meetings that took place between them,” Patil said.
Patole, after meeting the chief minister said they did not discuss the reshuffle in the state cabinet. “The transfers of the officers take place in March-April. anyways. There may be some officers transferred,” he said.
Thackeray also met senior police officers of the Mumbai police Commissionerate to discuss the scheme of things in the city’s police force. He is believed to have expressed his unhappiness over the bomb scare case and lack of control of the top officials on the affairs of the crime branch.
