NEW DELHI: Confident that any attempt by the BJP to overthrow the Maharashtra government will be unsuccessful, Supreme NCP Sharad Pawar has claimed that the Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation led by Uddhav Thackeray is stable and will continue to rule the state.
He also criticized the action of the Directorate of Execution (ED) against the leaders of the ruling. alliance and his relatives as “abuse of authority”.
“A year has passed (since Thackeray MVA Government took office) … they (BJP) had to overthrow the government in two months, then in six months, then in eight months. But nothing will happen, “Pawar told PTI in an interview.
“It is a stable government and it will continue,” he said.
The MVA government, made up of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, completed a year last month. Throughout this period, various BJP leaders have been saying that the government will collapse, citing ideological differences between the alliance partners.
BJP and Shiv Sena had contested the 2019 assembly elections together, but their alliance failed over the issue of the chief minister position.
It was Pawar who is said to have later brought together Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress to form the MVA government.
The Maratha stalwart, who has been Maharashtra’s chief minister four times and has also been a union minister at the Center in the past, is seen as the driving force behind the Thackeray-led government in the state.
When asked about the ED notice to the leader of Shiv Sena and the editor of Saamana Sanjay rautVarsha, Pawar’s wife, said: “This is an abuse of authority.”
The DE had summoned Varsha for questioning in the PMC Bank money laundering case of more than Rs 4,300. He is now expected to appear before the central investigative agency on January 5 after skipping the subpoena three times.
Pawar said: “They even tried to let me know once, but then they withdrew. He wasn’t even a member of the bank and he didn’t have any account with that bank.”
Last year, the Emergency Department registered a criminal case at the Maharashtra Sahakari Cooperative Bank (MSCB) and the role of Pawar, his nephew Ajit pawar and others had fallen under the agency’s scanner.
The ED did not finally summon Pawar, but the PNC president had insisted at the time that he visit the office of the investigative agency. He later abandoned the plan after state police asked him not to go ahead to avoid a possible public order situation.
Shiv Sena has also been alleging that central investigative agencies were unfairly targeting their leaders.
Former BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who recently joined Sharad Pawar’s NCP, was also subpoenaed by the ED for questioning in connection with a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Pune.
Last month, the Emergency Department raided premises linked to Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik in connection with a money laundering case.
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