Congress Seeks Fadnavis' Clarification on Nawab Malik's Presence at Meeting
Mumbai: A day after Nawab Malik attended a meeting of the Ajit Pawar faction, Congress demanded a statement from deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on it. Malik is out on bail on medical grounds in a money laundering case related to Dawood Ibrahim gang.In December last year, when Malik had sat on the Treasury benches in the Assembly during the Winter Session, Fadnavis opposed his inclusion in the ruling alliance.
Ajit Pawar held a meeting with party ministers, members of the core committee at his official residence on Tuesday night. A video of the meeting showed Malik sitting next to state minister Hasan Mushrif.
According to sources, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister discussed plans for party’s expansion and preparation for the upcoming state Assembly elections, which are likely to be held in October this year.
“We are prepared to contest 90 out of 288 Assembly seats. We were given only two Lok Sabha seats as part of Mahayuti, but we expect a better deal for the Assembly from the BJP,” a party leader said.
However, Malik’s presence in the party‘s official meeting was the biggest talking point. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar demanded that Fadnavis should clarify his stand on whether Malik is part of the Mahayuti or not.
After his release on medical bail, Malik had attended the Assembly session in Nagpur. However, when he sat on treasury benches, Fadnavis had objected and wrote a letter to Ajit Pawar.
Malik was arrested in a money laundering case linked with the members of Dawood Ibrahim gang. Fadnavis had insisted that Malik cannot be part of Mahayuti because of his alleged links with a designated terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, who was involved in 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.
When asked about it, an NCP functionary said that Malik was given an official invitation for the meeting. “It was our internal party meeting. Malik is our senior leader. BJP cannot dictate its term every time,” he said.