Mumbai: An emotional Ajit Pawar on Saturday remarked that he was pained as the name of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and family patriarch Sharad Pawar was being dragged into the alleged Rs 25,000 crore scam in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB). Speaking to newspersons here at Y B Chavan Center, near Mantralaya, Ajit Pawar wondered how could the bank which had deposits worth Rs 11,500 crore, could indulge in a Rs 25,000 crore.
Launching a counter offensive on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said that the government recently approved “out of turn” funds to four cooperative sugar mills owned by Dhananjay Mahadik, Pankaja Munde, Kalyanrao Kale and Vinay Kore despite the fact that they were declared as Non Performing Assets (NPAs). Pawar argued that the credit extended to cooperative sugar and spinning mills during their tenure in the MSC Bank were repaid and the bank now has incurred net profit of Rs 285 crores. He added that besides him there were many directors from other political parties including the BJP.
Pawar said that all the then board of directors were yet to reply to the section 88 notice served on them. Just as then the Bombay High Court ordered registration of the FIR by Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) since the money involved was in excess of Rs 100 crore. Defending his uncle and party president, he said that Sharad Pawar was not even remotely connected with the bank except for the fact that he was a member of two cooperative sugar mills where he sent sugarcane from his farm for crushing.
The NCP leader claimed that then Cooperation Minister Chandrakantdada Patil on the floor of the legislative assembly while responding to queries had replied that financial irregularities worth Rs 1.88 crore were detected in the MSC Bank. When asked about his whereabouts and him being incommunicado since yesterday, he clarified that he had been to Baramati taluka as the region had suffered worst damage to the recent heavy rains and deluge.
On the issue of being “not reachable” he admitted that this time also he did not consult anyone in the family or in the party and called Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade and submitted his resignation as an NCP MLA. After leaving Vidhan Bhavan he came to a relatives place in Mumbai and switched off his phone as he wanted peace of mind
Pawar did admit to behaving this way in the past also. He disclosed that when similar allegations of corruption were leveled against him in the alleged Rs 70,000 Irrigation scam he was pained and greatly distressed and without informing anyone had decided to step down from office. He questioned how the probe into the Irrigation scam could drag on for five years now. Now also he could not bear the fact that for no fault of the NCP chief, his name (Pawar Senior) was being dragged into the issue. He slammed those critics for throwing up numbers as if to suggest that he (Ajit Pawar) was not used to settle for anything less than Rs 100 crores.
The NCP leader rubbished the talks of there being any family feud in the Pawar family. Terming the NCP chief as the patriarch of the family, Pawar said that everybody in the family treats his (Sharad Pawar) decision as final. Referring to his brother-in-law Padmasinha Patil quitting the party and joining the BJP, he said that he did not criticize their decision. State NCP president Jayant Patil argued that how could financial assistance approved by a bank be construed as money laundering?
Earlier in the day after holding talks with Ajit Pawar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar remarked that all was well within the family and stated that Ajit Pawar would make a statement later in the day. Senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut got caught in the cross-hairs of the Pawar family drama. After being spotted by the media at Pawar seniors Silver Oak Apartments residence in south Mumbai, Raut made a hurried exit arguing that he had come to meet Pawar senior for some work and that he had family relations with the NCP chief. Just yesterday, Raut has supported the NCP chief terming him as the doyen of politics in the country.
