PM must seriously look into concerns of opposition leaders on misuse of Central agencies: Sharad Pawar
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Supremo Sharad Pawar | File Photo
| Photo Credit: ANI
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take seriously the concerns expressed by opposition leaders over the alleged misuse of Central agencies.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Mr. Pawar, whose party is allied to the Congress and the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT)-led Shiv Sena faction in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, further remarked that he sensed “a desire for political change” among the people of Maharashtra, which is currently helmed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Last week, nine leaders from eight political parties had written to Mr. Modi criticising the arrest of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case, while alleging that the “misuse” of Central agencies implied that the country had “transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy”.
“I was the first to sign the letter to PM Modi. We want the Prime Minister to take our concerns seriously,” the NCP chief said.
Commenting on Mr. Sisodia’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the now-scrapped liquor policy, Mr. Pawar said, “Mr. Sisodia worked well for the education sector and was praised by many, but today he’s being arrested.”
Opposition leaders who were the signatories to the letter included Mr. Pawar’s MVA ally, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Telangana CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Trinamool Congress head Mamata Banerjee, National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The leaders have alleged that the timing of the cases against opposition leaders or their arrests in some cases “coincided with elections”, which clearly implied that the actions thus taken were “politically motivated”.
Meanwhile, newly-elected Congress MLA from Kasba Peth, Ravindra Dangekar, has called upon Mr. Pawar at the latter’s Pune residence following his stunning win the keenly contested bypoll whose results were declared last week.
Mr. Dhangekar, the MVA’s candidate and a former four-time corporator, pulled off a thumping win in the BJP’s citadel of Kasba Peth in the old city by defeating the BJP’s Hemant Rasane by over 11,000 votes.
“Even I did not imagine that Mr. Dhangekar would win as Kasba had been considered a BJP bastion whose long-time MLA Girish Bapat had maintained a strong hold over the segment. Mr. Bapat’s specialty was his strong connect with the non-BJP electorate as well. However, I was impressed when I came to know that Mr. Dhangekar was a grassroots worker who went around on a two-wheeler to solve people’s problems,” Mr. Pawar said.
Speaking on the MVA’s win in the Kasba Assembly byelection, the NCP chief said that people desired the three MVA parties to jointly contest and win elections.
“I have been roaming throughout Maharashtra these past few days…everywhere, the people have expressed a desire for change. It is their wish that the MVA parties contest polls together,” Mr. Pawar said.
