‘This is injustice’: Pawar discusses probe against allies with PM

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed central agencies’ action against leaders of Maharashtra’s ruling coalition and other opposition parties.

The two spoke for about 20 minutes at Modi’s office in Parliament, hours after the Enforcement Directorate seized the properties of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha and a relative of Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi minister Satyendra Jain in an alleged money laundering case.

On Wednesday morning, the CBI took custody of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, an NCP leader.

“On what basis was action taken against Sanjay Raut? This is injustice. What’s the provocation for action against Raut – just because he is making some statements?” Pawar told reporters after the meeting.

Pawar also dismissed talk of any turmoil within the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition that he helped stitch up in 2019 after the Sena broke up with its long-term ally BJP. 

“We will fight together in next elections… the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi). There is a stability, I am answering these questions for the last two-and-a-half years,” Pawar said.

Pawar repeated that he was not ready to lead the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition that, led by the Congress, ruled the country for 10 years.

“I am not ready to be UPA chairperson and we don’t want to disturb the present set up.”

Deflecting questions about the possibility of his “return to the Congress” to revive the party, the NCP leader said dissidents in the Congress were “asking for more strength”.

Pawar said he also spoke to Modi about the long-pending approval by the Maharashtra governor of a list of 12 names for the state legislative council. The state government has been pushing for the governor’s sign off for more than two years.