What Sharad Pawar might have discussed with Modi

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar might have discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the delay in the appointment of 12 members to the state Legislative Council from the Governor's quota, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Wednesday.

Sharad Pawar met Modi at the prime minister's office in Parliament earlier in the day, giving rise to speculation as the meeting came amid intensified action by central probe agencies against leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra.

Asked by reporters in Ahmednagar about the meeting, Ajit Pawar said he had no information about it, but the country's prime minister and the national president of a party 'can meet over developmental works'.

"We had told Pawar saheb recently that the Maharashtra government has requested the Governor several times to nominate 12 MLCs (Members of Legislative Council).We had requested him (Pawar) to speak about it in Delhi. He might have met (the prime minister) over that issue," Ajit Pawar, the NCP chief's nephew, said.

Water Resources Minister and Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil too said the issue could have come up in the meeting.

"Such a delay on the part of the Governor was never seen in Maharashtra, so we had requested Pawar saheb to bring this to notice at the highest levels...he might have met the prime minister to raise that issue," Patil told reporters in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is yet to appoint 12 members to the Upper House of the state legislature from his quota despite the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government sending him a list of recommendations more than a year ago.

The meeting between Sharad Pawar and Modi also came on a day when the Central Bureau of Investigation took custody of NCP leader and former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in connection with corruption allegations levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate attached assets worth more than Rs 11.15 crore of Sena leader Sanjay Raut's wife and two of his associates in a money-laundering investigation linked to certain land deals.