Sharad Pawar mentioned Nawab Malik’s arrest is a politically motivated one. (File)
Pune:
Nationalist Congress Occasion (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday mentioned that the arrest of celebration chief and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik is “politically motivated” and makes an attempt have been made to attach him to fugitive Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim as a result of he’s a Muslim.
He additionally dismissed the calls for raised by the Opposition looking for the resignation of Mr Malik.
Mr Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on February 23 in a money-laundering probe linked to the actions of Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
“Malik’s arrest is a politically motivated one. He’s being linked to Dawood Ibrahim as a result of he’s a Muslim. Malik and his relations are being intentionally harassed however we’ll battle again,” the NCP chief mentioned.
When requested concerning the opposition BJP’s demand for Mr Malik’s resignation as a minister, Mr Pawar mentioned totally different yardsticks are being utilized to Union minister Narayan Rane, who belongs to BJP, and Mr Malik.
“I do not keep in mind our (Congress’) former celebration employee Narayan Rane needed to resign after his arrest lately. Tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming to Pune. He could clarify extra about it. Making use of one yardstick for Malik and one other for Rane reveals that each one this was politically motivated,” he claimed.
Mr Rane was arrested final August by the police at Sangameshwar within the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra for his assertion that he would have slapped state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for forgetting the 12 months India received freedom throughout his Independence Day speech.
Talking concerning the alleged tapping of telephones of choose politicians when BJP was in energy in Maharashtra, Mr Pawar mentioned, “I’ve seen the file of cellphone tapping of assorted leaders. It was carried out throughout the tenure of the Devendra Fadnavis authorities. Officers merely adopted the orders and at the moment are dealing with the results. I’ve by no means seen such a scenario within the nation earlier than”.
Mr Pawar additionally took a swipe at BJP and Maharashtra governor B S Koshyari, who has not permitted the names of 12 MLCs despatched to him by the Maharashtra cupboard for greater than a 12 months in the past for his or her nomination to the Legislative Council.
“Maharashtra has the legacy of governors like PC Alexander amongst others. I shouldn’t speak about what the current governor is doing. The Central authorities is doing no matter it could do and Maharashtra is the newest instance,” he mentioned.
“Getting nominated to the Vidhan Parishad is one’s democratic proper. However a 12 months has handed and nothing is being carried out. If somebody has determined to not keep the status of the Constitutional submit then what’s the necessity to remark,” Mr Pawar mentioned.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)