A day after Amit Shah described NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar as the “ringleader of corrupt”, as his nephew Ajit Pawar kept mum, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said on Monday the Union Home Minister should introspect which party has roped in all the “corrupt” leaders, who has given them the prime positions, and who the real ringmasters are.
On Sunday, Amit Shah called Sharad Pawar the ‘biggest sargana of corruption in Indian politics’ and also alleged the veteran leader has “institutionalised corruption” in the country. While addressing the two-day conclave of BJP workers in Pune, Shah also targeted Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.
“The Home Minister should pause for a moment and then he will find that the real ringleaders of the corrupt are sitting in Delhi. He and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should look in the mirror while they are in Delhi. They will instantly spot the ringmasters of the corrupt leaders…” Sanjay Raut, spokesperson for the Shiv Sena (UBT), told The Indian Express.
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Raut said the leaders against whom the BJP made allegations, sent the likes of Chhagan Bhujbal to jail, and who worked with Sharad Pawar for years are now in the saffron party. “The BJP levelled allegations of corruption against NCP leaders like Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Praful Patel. Where are they now? They are all now with the BJP and enjoying perks and positions. They are dancing to the tunes of their ringmasters… One has become deputy chief minister, others are cabinet ministers. Shah should first introspect who are the ringmasters of the corrupt,” he said.
The Uddhav Sena leader said Ajit Pawar who worked closely with his uncle Sharad Pawar for three decades joined hands with the BJP in 2023 to form the Mahayuti Government along with 40-odd MLAs. Before November 2019, the BJP had been targeting Ajit Pawar, alleging a Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam by him, he also pointed out.
“BJP leaders from 2013 were saying they will put Ajit Pawar in jail. Ajit Pawar did not go to jail. He went to the BJP. What does Shah have to say about this? Similarly, Bhujbal, the one-time close confidant of Sharad Pawar, was sent to jail in the Maharashtra Sadan scam by the BJP. Another leader Praful Patel, who was considered as the right-hand man of Sharad Pawar, was also called corrupt by the BJP. Where are they and what are they doing? Will Shah tell the nation?” he asked.
Raut also criticised BJP leaders from Maharashtra for clapping when Shah criticised Pawar. “It was a big shame to see Marathi manoos clapping when the home minister was criticising Sharad Pawar who has played a pivotal role in the development of Maharashtra. Sharad Pawar has been for decades slogging for the progress of Maharashtra. Shah emerged just yesterday. What has he done for Maharashtra? What are his achievements other than breaking families, homes, and parties?”
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Raut said he wanted to remind Shah what PM Modi said about Pawar in Baramati a few years ago. “Modi said it was Sharad Pawar who had hand-held him into politics. The Modi Sarkar then honoured Pawar with Padma Vibhushan… For what? Can the Home Minister set the record straight? Did the Modi Govt honour the ‘sargana’ of the corrupt? Shah should clarify,” he said.
Echoing Raut’s views, Baramati MP and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule pointed to her cousin Ajit Pawar, without naming him. “When Shah was delivering his speech, the person whom the BJP accused of corruption was sitting behind him. Ninety per cent of those whom the BJP accused of corruption are in the BJP. And it was the Modi Government which honoured my father with Padma Vibhushan”.
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.
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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.
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