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Inquiry initiated into charges against Pawar, says Rane

The Maharashtra government has initiated a preliminary inquiry into the charges levelled by former Union home minister Shankarrao Chavan against Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane said in Pune today.

Rane was speaking at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Pune Union of Working Journalists. Chavan had levelled serious charges against Pawar and alleged that the latter had a hand in the 1988 riots in Aurangabad. Rane said the inquiry has been launched to ascertain whether there is any truth in these charges.

Rane, who kicked off the party's election campaign from Kolhapur on Tuesday after seeking the blessings of goddess Mahalaxmi, arrived in Pune last night where he had a darshan of the Dagduseth Ganapati this morning.

He termed as unfortunate the Election Commission's decision to strip Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray of his voting rights for misusing the election campaign in Maharashtra in 1987. Asked if the Sena would be cautious about the Hindutva plank this time, the chief minister said his party has always been aggressive in its campaigning and it would continue to do so during electioneering for the joint elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assembly.

Rane brushed aside speculative reports in the press that there were differences between the alliance partners because of which the Bharatiya Janata Party had launched a separate campaign in the state projecting deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde.

Rane clarified that it was agreed that till the alliance decided on its candidates for the Lok Sabha and the state assembly, both the parties could campaign separately. However, joint campaigning would begin soon after the lists are announced in the first week of August.

''I sacrificed six months of my remaining tenure as the chief minister while recommending the dissolution of the state assembly and recommended simultaneous elections to the assembly along with the Lok Sabha as the prevailing atmosphere would definitely benefit us,'' the chief minister claimed.

The Kargil issue, the break-up of the Congress, more so in Maharashtra with Pawar forming his NCP, are definitely in favour of the alliance in the coming elections, Rane said, adding that ''we defeated the united Congress in 1995 when it was in power, but today it is fragmented.''

The NCP, he claimed posed no threat to the alliance, and said that it would not get more than 50 assembly seats. He said that the SS-BJP alliance would be in a position to win at least 175 assembly seats and between 30 to 35 Lok Sabha seats.

When asked to comment on the Sena's inability to fulfil its tall promises of providing five million houses to slum dwellers and 2.5 million new jobs Rane replied that the Congress or the NCP had no moral right to question the alliance on these issues.

UNI

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