State BJP president Chandrakant Patil has written a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah seeking a CBI probe against Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and transport minister Anil Parab following extortion charges levelled against the duo by dismissed police officer Sachin Waze. In the letter, Patil wrote, “CBI probe was ordered against former home minister Anil Deshmukh based on charges of extortion made by former police commissioner Param Bir Singh… In the same way, here we have assistant police inspector Sachin Waze accusing deputy CM Ajit Pawar and transport minister Anil Parab of extortion. Therefore, CBI probe should be ordered against Pawar and Parab.” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Madhav Bhandari denied any political motive or “pressure politics” behind the move. Earlier this month, at its state executive meeting, the BJP had passed a resolution demanding CBI probe against Pawar and Parab. Leaders from the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena, meanwhile, accused the BJP of “abusing the central agencies against political rivals”. Sena Parliamentarian Sanjay Raut said, “It has now become a trend. The BJP is misusing its CBI to settle political scores.”
