Pawar slams BJP for defections; introspect, says Fadnavis

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday accused Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and other Bharatiya Janata Party ministers of "committing themselves" to poaching leaders from other parties before the assembly election.

Pawar also accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of misusing probe agencies and state-run financial bodies to compel leaders to join their fold.

"The chief minister and other ministers in the state government have literally committed themselves to this work (luring leaders of other parties). They are making phone calls to leaders of other parties and asking them to join," the NCP president said.

Citing an example of the alleged misuse of financial bodies, he said: "The sugar mill of (former MLA) Kalyan Kale in Pandharpur was in a difficult situation. The state government, by flouting norms, gave Rs 30-35 crore to it and asked him to join the BJP. Since he wanted to save his factory, he switched over."

Hitting back at NCP chief's allegation, Fadnavis said that Pawar should introspect why people were leaving the party.

Fadnavis claimed the BJP was "beyond running behind anyone" as the people of India were with the party and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Replying to a query on Pawar's statement, he said, "Sharad Pawar should introspect on why his people are not ready to stay with the NCP."

"The stand of the BJP is very clear. A lot of leaders from the Congress and NCP are interested in joining the BJP, however, very few will be allowed to join. Those with ED cases will not be taken. We do not need such people," he added.

Fadnavis said the BJP did not need to pressure anybody to join. "We are beyond running behind anyone. Now people (leaders) run behind the BJP. We will take care of those who are good and work for the people," he claimed.

Fadnavis claimed that he wanted to remind the NCP leader that many sugar factories belonging to the members of his party were helped by the government and state banks when they were in trouble.

"However, we never asked them to join the BJP. He should introspect," he claimed.

Pawar claimed that NCP state women's president Chitra Wagh, who had announced last Friday that she was quitting the party, was also forced to join the BJP by way of threats.

"Wagh met me. She looked worried," Pawar said.

"She told me that there are some criminal cases against her husband. In addition to that, an ACB (anti corruption bureau) inquiry has been initiated against their cooperative institution. That is why she asked me to give her permission to join the BJP," he said.

Pawar alleged that Kagal NCP MLA Hasan Mushrif was also made an offer by the BJP, but when he refused, the income tax department carried out raids at his premises in Kolhapur.

Pawar added that Satara MLA Shivendraraje Bhosle and Ahmednagar MLA Sangram Jagtap are with the NCP.

Pawar also announced that his party and the Congress had come to an agreement on 240 of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, polls for which are scheduled for later this year.

He also said the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was mulling boycotting the assembly polls due to reservations about Electronic Voting Machines.

Pawar added that leaders of both the principal opposition parties would now speak to other groups like the Swambhimani Paksha for the remaining of the seats.

"The NCP and Congress have reached an understanding on 240 seats for the state Assembly elections," he said.

Pawar said seat-sharing talks will be completed and the constituency-wise list of candidates will be readied in the next few days.

Speaking on the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena joining the Congress-NCP alliance, the NCP president said, "I met some MNS leaders in Mumbai. Recently Raj Thackeray met Sonia Gandhi. MNS leaders have strong feelings against EVMs and they feel some decision needs to be taken in this regard. The MNS is in favour of boycotting the elections but this is not acceptable to us," he said.

He added that a lot of parties at the national level were against the use of EVMs in elections and the matter is in the court as well.

"But no one has reached a decision to boycott the elections," he said.