This is an archive article published on July 1, 2021
Maharashtra BJP writes to Amit Shah seeking CBI probe against Ajit Pawar, NCP says move will backfire
While Ajit Pawar has not yet commented on the BJP's demand, Patil said it will be BJP which will have to face embarrassment for trying to get CBI to probe the NCP leader.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar (Photo: Twitter/@AjitPawarSpeaks)
After state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to launch an investigation against Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Transport Minister Anil Parab in connection to the Sachin Waze case, the NCP on Thursday said the BJP’s move will backfire.
“They (BJP) had also succeeded in getting an ED probe against our party president Sharad Pawar. However, the move backfired on the BJP. And now, their bid to get a CBI probe started against the deputy chief minister will backfire as well,” said state NCP spokesperson Umesh Patil on Thursday.
While Ajit Pawar has not yet commented on the BJP’s demand, Patil said it will be BJP which will have to face embarrassment for trying to get CBI to probe the NCP leader.
“It is probably the first time in the history of India that a political party (BJP) has passed a resolution at its executive committee meeting seeking CBI probe against a leader. This only goes to show the way BJP is misusing the investigating agencies. Be it CBI or ED, BJP has turned them into puppets to target opponents. They will not succeed in their game plan. We will give them a befitting reply. Their bid to tarnish Ajit Pawar’s image will turn into an embarrassment for them,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the party’s state chief Chandrakant Patil has sent a letter to the Union Home Minister, seeking a CBI probe against Ajit Pawar and Anil Parab in the Sachin Waze case.
“Our executive committee had also passed a resolution to this effect. Sachin Waze had told an NIA court that one Darshan Godavat has asked him to collect money from gutkha sellers on behalf of the deputy CM. Waze had also said that Parab had asked him to collect Rs 2 crore each from 50 contractors of the BMC,” said Bhandari.
“Since the CBI is probing the extortion case against Anil Deshmukh and his two assistants on directions of the High Court, a similar probe should be launched against Ajit Pawar and Anil Parab. This is what we have demanded in the letter,” said Bhandari.
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When asked who Godawat was, Bhandari said, “It is Ajit Pawar who has reply to this charge… why is he keeping mum?”
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “When it comes to CBI probe on state matters, it is either the state government or the High Court which takes the call… By urging the party’s leader and the Home Minister to launch a CBI probe, the BJP has only revealed whose tunes the CBI dances to… This exactly is the reason why states are keeping CBI out.”
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Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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