Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray meet amid reports of trouble in Maha Vikas Aghadi

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai. The meeting between the leaders lasted 30 minutes and they discussed the coordination of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state among other issues. Notably, this was the second meeting between Pawar and Thackeray in the last one and a half months and came at a time when speculations are rife about trouble in the coalition.

Nana Patole comments on Sharad Pawar

According to a report by ANI, Maharashtra Congress leader Nana Patole today again reiterated that "Sharad Pawar is government's remote control. There is no doubt that Sharad Pawar is remote control (of Maharashtra government). We (Congress) do not make statements against any big leader, but any outsider should look into own party before making statements," said Patole. Congress leaders on Wednesday had met Sharad Pawar to assure him that Patole's statements would not be repeated.

Pawar also held a meeting with NCP leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Minister Aditi Tatkare, and Eknath Khadse in Mumbai today before meeting the Chief Minister. The NCP leader held a one-on-one meeting with Eknath Khadse at Sahyadri guest house in Mumbai today. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing Khadse in a money laundering case. ED has also arrested Khadse's son-in-law Girish Chaudhary, who was sent into ED custody till July 19.

Why is ED probing Khadse?

As per the ECIR registered in October 2020 against Khadse, his wife Mandakini, and son-in-law Girish Choudhari, the ED alleged a loss of Rs.62 crore to the public exchequer. According to an agency, Khadse misused his official position as the Maharashtra Revenue Minister in 2016 to manipulate the actual market price of a piece of land in Bhosari, Pune which was more than Rs.31 crore at that time.

The ex-Muktainagar MLA has been accused of facilitating the purchase of this land at a low rate of Rs.3.75 crore with a "criminal intent" to later seek compensation from the MIDC which was to acquire the land in the future.
While Khadse has asserted that the land in question was bought by his wife and son-in-law legally, the agency claimed that its initial probe had uncovered evidence showing money laundering in the case. Conceding that the police had filed a closure report in a similar case registered in 2017, the ED pointed out that the report has not been accepted by a court in Pune. Moreover, it found out that the money used to buy the land came from 5 shell companies. Choudhary was unable to explain the source of the transaction.

With inputs from ANI

IMAGE: PTI