NCP leaders want to join BJP due to cases kept alive during Congress regime

Mumbai: The pressure of central investigating agencies is said to be the reason behind unease in the Nationalist Congress Party. Several prominent leaders in the party want to reconcile with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Interestingly, the investigations in almost all cases against NCP leaders or their family members were started during the UPA rule at the Centre and Congress government in Maharashtra. Though no serious action was taken in these cases, the investigations were not closed in order to keep the NCP in check. The same cases are now benefiting the BJP.

Several NCP leaders and their family members, including at least seven members of the Pawar family, are facing scrutiny by the central agencies.

Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra Pawar are linked to Satara-based Jarandeshwar cooperative sugar factory that was under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) scanner in connection with the multi-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam. The ED had attached assets worth over Rs 65 crore of the factory.

Even Rohit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, is reportedly being probed by the ED for his role as a director in Green Acre Resort & Real Touch from 2006 to 2012, when HDIL promoter Rakesh Wadhawan was also on the board.

Apart from the Pawar family, former ministers and legislators are also being investigated by the CBI, ED or IT. Senior NCP leader and former minister Hasan Mushrif is under ED’s scanner in connection with alleged irregularities in the operation of a Kolhapur-based Sar Senapati Santaji Ghorpade Sugar Factory Limited.

Senior leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal and Anil Deshmukh are out on bail.

“The choice is between the family and political ideology. Obviously, the family is the priority. There is a feeling among the leaders that if we go with the BJP, they can keep their family members safe,” said a senior NCP leader, who admitted that a strong group in the NCP wants to join hands with the BJP.

Interestingly, the cases against NCP leaders were not started after Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre in 2014. They date back to Congress rule, be it cases against Bhujbal or Ajit Pawar.

A senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, admitted that these cases were internally kept alive by his party. “These are genuine cases of corruption. There were cases against leaders from other parties also. There were clear instructions in Congress — do not overstretch the issue, but keep cases alive. It was needed to keep some people on a tight leash,” he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, who had written about the pressure on Pawar family members to join hands with the BJP in his column in party mouthpiece Saamana, said, “Now since Ajit Pawar is saying that he will never quit the NCP, we should stop discussion on it. There is a strong bonding in the Pawar family. But politics is different. You never know what will happen.”

The editorial in Saamana also said that Pawar decided to step down from the post of the NCP president because of some party leaders who want to go with the BJP. “A group in the NCP is at the doorstep of the BJP,” the editorial said.

The Saamana editorial further said that Sharad Pawar’s resignation could be a ploy to outflank an attempted coup led by Ajit Pawar. It added that Ajit Pawar’s ultimate objective is to become the chief minister of Maharashtra and he is not interested in national politics.

“Several political leaders in Maharashtra are sitting on a fence. The majority of them are from Sharad Pawar’s NCP. After Sharad Pawar announced his decision, the same leaders cried the most,” the editorial said.