“Best example of…”: Sharad Pawar on arrest of Maharashtra opposition leaders

Mumbai:

Listing the names of leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra, NCP chief and former Union minister Sharad Pawar today said they are the “best example” of how central investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate can be “misused”. “Arrest. NCP’s Anil Deshmukh, Shiv Sena (Uddhav) leader Sanjay Raut and others are with him.

“I will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah so that no one has to go through such a situation in future,” he said.

He was speaking a day after the release of Anil Deshmukh, a former minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, who was ousted in a rebellion by the BJP-backed Shiv Sena in June.

Mr. Deshmukh came out on bail after spending a year in jail as an accused in a corruption case. Mr Pawar’s daughter and party MP Supriya Sule was among the leaders who visited the 72-year-old Siddhivinayak temple. in an open-top jeep before going home,

Earlier this year, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut spent three months in jail in a money laundering case filed by the ED till he got bail in November. The court found them “illegally” a “Pick and choose attitude”.

While Mr Deshmukh is accused of extortion, Sanjay Raut’s name figures in an alleged scam in a housing scheme. Both have said that this is an act of political vendetta by the ruling BJP at the Centre.

“Misuse of central agencies”, such as the ED and the CBI, is a charge leveled against the BJP by leaders across the opposition spectrum, from Maharashtra to Jharkhand to Delhi, among other states.

Mr Deshmukh was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on December 12 in the main corruption case filed by the CBI, but the order was stayed for 10 days as the agency sought time to approach the Supreme Court. The court, however, will hear the CBI’s appeal only in January after the winter break.

Earlier, the apex court had refused to interfere with the bail granted to him by the High Court in the money laundering case filed by the ED. ED arrested him in November 2021.