ED, CBI, NCB being misused; targeting family members of MVA government, alleges Sharad Pawar

The NCB recently conducted a number of raids, including on some high-profile people

Accusing the BJP-led NDA dispensation of misusing central agencies to target political opponents, NCP founder-president Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that the agencies are now targeting the relatives of politicians.

“Central agencies like CBI, IT, ED and NCB are being misused for political gains,” Pawar, a four-time Maharashtra chief minister and former union minister, told a news conference in Mumbai.

“A new strategy and pattern seems to be emerging…relatives of political opponents are being targeted,'' he said referring to the IT raids on his three nieces – the sisters of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

“One of them is into publishing, another is a doctor, while the other sister is a housewife,” said Pawar, the chief architect of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Also Read | My comparison of Lakhimpur incident to Jallianwala Bagh led to I-T raids on Ajit Pawar's kin: NCP chief

“For two years they have been targeting our leaders… now they have resorted to targeting family members… however, this is not going to break our will,” he said.

Referring to the series of events vis-a-vis former home minister Anil Deshmukh, he said: “His house was raided for the fifth time yesterday. I am surprised. What is the need of raiding the same house 5 times? The public also needs to understand this.”

Pawar also spoke about IRS officer Sameer Wankhede, who was brought in as the Mumbai zonal director of NCB.

“I have tried to take information about Wankhede from officials as he was posted earlier in the Mumbai airport. I have come to hear some stories, but I don't have the complete picture so I won't speak about it (as of now),” he said.

Pawar, a former leader of opposition in Lok Sabha also pointed out that if they compare the work of the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai Police and NCB, we will see that the volume of seizure of the state agency is much higher than the central agency.

Pawar vs Fadnavis

Meanwhile, Pawar took a dig at Maharashtra leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis of BJP, who had said that he still feels like he is the chief minister of the state because of the love people shower on him.

“It’s good that the BJP leader still considers himself as the chief minister. I congratulate him. After being the chief minister for five years, Fadnavis still feels he is holding the post,” Pawar said, adding that he lacked this trait even though he had served as Maharashtra chief minister four times.

Fadnavis then took a dig at Pawar, saying: “I have been the chief minister for five years…but Pawar saheb was chief minister for four terms but never five years.”

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