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A day after BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis created a flutter alleging that the ruling MVA was hatching a conspiracy against its opponents and submitted a video “proof” in the Assembly, NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the state government will probe the authenticity of the clips.
Interacting with media persons here, Pawar also said his name was being mentioned “directly or indirectly” in the recordings submitted in connection with the alleged conspiracy and added he was “nowhere” related to it.
Without naming the BJP, Pawar said efforts were being made “to destabilise” the MVA government but insisted that the alliance “cannot be troubled” as it enjoys a clear majority.
He also hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will order a probe into a complaint raised by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut regarding the alleged misuse of Central agencies.
Fadnavis on Tuesday submitted a pen drive containing video recordings to Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, saying the footage showed how conspiracies were hatched by police and members of the MVA to frame BJP leaders, including himself and Girish Mahajan, in false cases. He had demanded a CBI probe.
Pawar said the claim that he wanted to finish Fadnavis and BJP leader Girish Mahajan politically was “laughable”.
“So, it seems there is also some comic information in it (the material submitted by Fadnavis). One cannot get finished like this,” he said.
“If it is true that the recording (submitted by Fadnavis) is of 125 hours, then the use of a powerful agency cannot be ruled out…and such agencies are only under the Government of India,” he said.
It is “praiseworthy” that Fadnavis or any of his colleagues succeeded in capturing the nearly 125-hour video footage, Pawar said sarcastically.
“It first needs to be proved whether it (the recording) is authentic or not. The state government will definitely probe that the veracity needs to be confirmed. My name also seems to have been dragged directly or indirectly. There is no reason, I am not related to it,” he said.
Pawar said the MVA — comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress — was not misusing power to target its opponents.
“One thing has to be noted though that all the power of the Centre and all its agencies are in the hands of the people who follow the same ideology as Devendra Fadnavis,” he said.
Pawar claimed that efforts to topple the MVA government have not succeeded, and hence, “such options” are being explored to bring it down.
He said the Maharashtra government will examine the materials submitted by Fadnavis and will keep facts before the people at the right time.
Pawar, however, said it was true that he had asked Fadnavis to look into a serious complaint he had received about one of the colleagues of the BJP leader sometime in the past six months or a year.
“Later, I was told by him (Fadnavis) that he was looking into the complaint I had sent to him and care will be taken to see that such things will not happen. The issue was over for me then and there. Except this, I am nowhere personally related to this,” the NCP chief said.
He said Central agencies were also being “misused on a big scale” in TMC-ruled West Bengal “to discourage” BJP’s opponents.
Pawar said former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, arrested by the ED, is a fitting example of how probes are carried out by misusing agencies.
“Deshmukh was jailed after a police complaint by a police official,” he said.
The NCP chief claimed that at least 95 people close to Deshmukh, including his family, relatives, staff, private secretary and CA, were raided by Central agencies. The statements of at least 200 people were recorded in Deshmukh’s case, he added.
There were 90 raids, including 50 by the ED, 20 by the CBI and 20 by the Income Tax Department.
“I had never heard something of this sort,” Pawar said.
Queried whether the MVA government is in trouble and the state is heading towards President’s rule, Pawar said, “nobody can trouble the MVA government”.
“This government enjoys a clear majority. Yes, efforts are being made to destabilise it but the legislators of the NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress will not respond to such efforts,” he said.
Pawar also dismissed BJP’s demand for the resignation of NCP leader and minister Nawab Malik, arrested by the ED in connection with a money laundering case.
“He is a leader who got elected to the state legislature for the past 25-30 years. You never levelled allegations against him then if there is a Muslim functionary, you link him to (gangster) Dawood. This is deplorable. The party stands firmly with him,” Pawar said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Satej Patil also hit out at Fadnavis, saying, “Such claims are being made (by Fadnavis) because Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are in power and the BJP is not. Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil will respond to it properly”.
“We are also aware that IPS officer Rashmi Shukla tapped the phone calls of members of (the then) opposition parties when Fadnavis was the chief minister. Thanks to our government that such a matter came to light,” Patil added.
