On Jayant Patil’s Questioning By ED, Sharad Pawar’s ‘Expectation’ Jibe At Centre

MUMBAI: Amid questioning of senior NCP chief Jayant Patil by the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai, celebration chief Sharad Pawar on Monday hinted that the motion in opposition to some leaders may very well be the fallout of their refusal to fulfill “expectations” of the ruling dispensation. Pawar mentioned they may undergo however won’t ever go astray from the trail they’ve chosen. He was chatting with reporters in Pune on the motion taken by ED and different Central probe companies in opposition to some leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party. 

“A possibility cannot be denied that the current dispensation has had some expectations from some 9-10 leaders of NCP. We are not ready to meet those expectations and are ready to pay the price for our stand. We will never leave the path we have chosen,” he mentioned in a veiled assault on the BJP-led Central authorities.

“As some people could not digest this (NCP’s stand), hence we have to suffer. But we are not worried about it,” he mentioned. Notably, talking on ED summoning him, Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil had mentioned, as he was a part of the opposition, one must face such sort of struggling. When requested about ED quizzing Patil, Pawar mentioned, “I have a list of some key 10 leaders who have faced inquiry. Some of them even faced action by these agencies.”

Questioning of Patil has been underway at ED’s workplace in south Mumbai for greater than seven hours in a cash laundering case linked to alleged monetary irregularities within the now-bankrupt monetary providers agency IL&FS, an official mentioned. 

“NCP leader (former home minister) Anil Deshmukh faced allegations of accepting Rs 100 crore for an educational institute and had to spend 13-14 months in jail. Later, it was revealed that the amount received was Rs 1.50 crore and not Rs 100 crore. It underscores the level of exaggeration of allegations…People were shocked when they first heard about such allegations. Deshmukh was defamed. It is the best example of how to misuse power,” Pawar claimed.

Deshmukh was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in December 2022 in a corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after IPS officer Param Bir Singh (now retired) in March 2021 alleged that Deshmukh, then dwelling minister, had given a goal to law enforcement officials to gather Rs 100 crore per 30 days from eating places and bars in Mumbai.

Deshmukh was arrested in November 2021 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a cash laundering case. He is at present out on bail. Another senior NCP chief Nawab Malik, a former Maharashtra minister, was arrested on February 23, 2022, below the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the ED in a probe linked to the actions of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.