News Analysis India

Tag: NCP

  • BJP, associates trying to create ‘communal situation’ in country: NCP chief Sharad Pawar

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The BJP and its associates are trying to create “communal situation” in the country, NCP chief Sharad Pawar alleged on Monday, comments coming in the backdrop of violence in several states during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti celebrations and the issue of loudspeakers atop mosques raging in Maharashtra.

    “On the other hand, the NCP, a constituent of the Shiv Sena-led MVA government in the state, was at the forefront of creating an atmosphere of harmony among people,” he said. In a series of tweets, Pawar said spread of communal ideology is a “matter of concern” and added the NCP will also flag issues relating to common citizens such as rise in prices of petrol, diesel, gas and edible oil.

    “The BJP and its associates are trying to create communal situation in the country. We are taking part in works of creating awareness among the people and creating atmosphere to ensure harmony among them,” Pawar tweeted in Marathi.

    यासोबतच जे राष्ट्रीय प्रश्न आहेत, उदाहरणार्थ सांप्रदायिक विचारांची होणारी वाढ हा चिंताजनक विषय आहे. तसेच पेट्रोल, डिझेल, गॅस, खाद्यतेल यांच्या किमती वाढत आहेत त्या सामान्य माणसाला त्रासदायक आहेत. आज त्याही प्रश्नावर जनमत तयार करावे, ही आमची भावना आहे.
    — Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) April 18, 2022
    States like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand saw violence during Ram Navami, while clashes broke out during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in the Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area on Saturday in which nine policemen and a civilian were injured.

    In Maharashtra, MNS chief Raj Thackeray has asked the MVA government to remove loudspeakers from mosques by May 3, citing noise pollution, and threatened to play Hanuman Chalisa outside mosques in a higher volume if his demand was not met.

    The BJP has supported Raj Thackeray’s demand. Without naming anyone, the former Union Agriculture minister also said on the micro-blogging site that many leaders have expressed a wish to bring together parties opposed to the BJP.

    He said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has informed him about it in writing. “She is expecting (Maharashtra) Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and me to take initiative in this regard. We will make the final decision after speaking to other leaders. But no date has been fixed yet (for such a meeting),” he added.

    Pawar, who visited Bengaluru on Monday, said the NCP is building its organisation at the national-level and noted Karnataka, where assembly polls are due in 2023, is one of the states where the party’s base is weak.

    Pawar added he or his party colleagues will visit the BJP-ruled southern state in between over the next year to expand its activities and base there.

  • Anil Deshmukh not in good health, CBI should question him in Mumbai: NCP

    Maharashtra NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase contended party leader Anil Deshmukh's shoulder is dislocated and he is not in a good shape health-wise.

  • Nawab Malik moves SC against HC order rejecting his interim plea for release

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik has moved the Supreme Court against an order of the Bombay High Court which had rejected his interim application seeking immediate release in a case of money laundering.

    In his plea which has been drafted by advocate Ankur Chawla, Malik has challenged the March 15 order of the division bench of the high court which had rejected the application saying just because the special PMLA court’s order remanding him in custody is not in his favour, it does not make that order illegal or wrong.

    The special leave petition (SLP) has been filed by advocate V D Khanna.

    After the Enforcement Directorate had arrested Malik under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), he had filed a habeas corpus plea in the high court claiming that his arrest by the ED and the consequent remands were illegal.

    The high court had said that Malik’s counsel had argued before the PMLA court and vehemently opposed the ED’s request for the minister’s custody.

    “There is also merit in the submissions of the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) that merely because the special court granted the custody of petitioner (Malik) would not make that order illegal ipso facto because the petitioner is aggrieved,” the high court had said.

    The high court had said that Malik was arrested by the ED in accordance with the law, and subsequently been remanded to the probe agency’s custody and then to judicial custody following due process.

    It had noted that Malik had gone to the ED’s office for questioning on February, 23, the day he was arrested, in response to previous summons issued to him by the central agency.

    He was then issued an arrest order and taken into custody by the ED, the high court had said.

    “In the present case, there is no dispute on the factual aspect that custody order is passed by the competent court of jurisdiction- the special court,” the high court had said.

    “And secondly, merely because the order is against the petitioner, it cannot be termed as patently illegal,” the court had said.

    Malik was arrested by the ED over a property deal allegedly linked to the aides of gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

    Soon after his arrest, the minister had filed a habeas corpus plea in the high court, challenging his arrest and the remand orders.

    As an interim prayer, he had sought that he be released from custody immediately.

    The high court had said that Malik’s petition had raised some debatable issues and the court needed to hear at length the arguments from both sides before passing any final orders.

    The central agency has accused Malik of being part of an alleged criminal conspiracy to usurp a property in Mumbai’s Kurla area which currently has a market value of Rs 300 crore and belongs rightfully to one Munira Plumber.

    Malik had contended before the high court that he had bought the property in a bonafide transaction three decades ago, and Plumber has now changed her mind about the transaction.

  • Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray denies being miffed with NCP’s handling of home ministry

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI: Amid the crackdown by central probe agencies against Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders, the Shiv Sena is said to be miffed with ally NCP’s handling of the home ministry, especially the soft treatment of BJP leaders.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, however, denied that he was upset with Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, who belongs to the NCP.

    The CM’s Office released a statement quoting Thackeray as saying that he had full trust and faith in his cabinet colleagues and that Walse-Patil was doing a good job. The clarification came after the minister met the CM at his bungalow on Friday noon.

    Thackeray later met the home minister again along with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in an attempt to address the growing unrest among his party leaders, who feel that the home department should have been kept with the Sena.

    The Shiv Sena chief was said to be unhappy with Walse-Pail’s reply in the Assembly to former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ allegation that the MVA government was conspiring to frame up BJP leaders in false cases.

    The NCP minister had announced a probe by the CID into the matter. Raut, too, had made his displeasure with the home department public saying the action taken by Central agencies like the ED against Maharashtra leaders was an attack on the state home department.

    After the meeting, however, he said,  usually the CM holds the home portfolio butMVA was a three-party government and there were limitations. Hence, the Sena could not keep all important portfolios with it.

    Earlier, Shiv Sena leader Chandrakant Khaire had also demanded that the home department should be with the party. “During the recent Maharashtra assembly session, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis brought a pen drive and ‘exposed’ the government, but home minister Dilip Walse-Patil gave a meek response. There are many cases registered against BJP leaders, but the home department has developed cold feet,” said a senior Shiv Sena leader.

  • Pawar card in play to head UPA

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI:  Amid Congress humiliation in the recent elections and nagging questions about its ability to lead the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) any longer, the NCP is aggressively pushing the candidature of its patriarch Sharad Pawar as the head of the front. The process gathered steam with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday saying Pawar has the ability to bring all non-BJP parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

    At present, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the UPA chairperson. The head of the grouping would automatically be its prime ministerial candidate, though Sonia gave it up in favour of Manmohan Singh. The NCP’s youth wing had in a recent meeting in Delhi adopted a resolution to make Sharad Pawar the chairperson of the UPA. The resolution significantly was passed in the presence of Pawar.

    NCP youth wing president Dhiraj Sharma said, “It is the right time to make Pawar the UPA head. The Congress is weak…. There are many anti-BJP parties that do not want to work under Congress leadership.”

  • NCP, Congress doing ‘injustice’ to Shiv Sena: Former minister Tanaji Sawant

    By PTI

    PUNE: Shiv Sena MLA and former Maharashtra minister Tanaji Sawant on Monday claimed there was a perception among his senior leaders that the party was getting “secondary” treatment in the ruling coalition headed by it and this was reflected in the recent state budget presented by finance minister Ajit Pawar.

    He said it was because of the Shiv Sena that the NCP and the Congress came to power and but now they are doing “injustice” to the saffron outfit led by Uddhav Thackeray, who is heading the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government since November 2019.

    Addressing party workers in Solapur, around 250km from here, Sawant claimed the departments headed by the NCP got 57 per cent to 60 per cent of the total allocations made in the budget for 2022-23.

    Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented the budget in the Assembly on March 11.

    He is a senior leader of the NCP, the second largest constituent in the Sena-led MVA government.

    “There is a common mentality (thinking) among all senior leaders of the Shiv Sena, be it from Konkan, Western Maharashtra, Marathwada or Vidharba, that the party (Shiv Sena) is getting secondary treatment and the same was reflected in the state budget,” said Sawant.

    He claimed of the total budget, the NCP-led departments got 57 per cent to 60 per cent allocation, those headed by Congress ministers 30 per cent to 35, while the Shiv Sena’s share in fund allotments was just 16 per cent.

    “The higher and technical education portfolio is the with Shiv Sena, and of the 16 per cent allocations, 6 per cent is spent on salaries. What about allocation for development?,” he asked.

    Sawant said he gets calls from local Sena leaders from various districts in which they say even a gram panchayat member who is from the NCP manages to get project work worth over Rs 1 crore sanctioned under a particular scheme since the rural development department is headed by NCP minister Hasan Mushrif.

    He said it is because of the Shiv Sena that the NCP and the Congress are in power in the state.

    “We will not tolerate this (alleged injustice). We are just waiting for orders (from Sena president Uddhav Thackeray). Do not test our patience. We are silent only till the time we get orders (aadesh) from saheb (Thackeray),” Sawant asserted.

    Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar told reporters in Ratnagiri that the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress are running the MVA government together under the leadership of Chief Minister Thackeray.

    He made the remarks while replying to Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil’s comment that the NCP is running the MVA government.

  • Opposition must study why Modi keeps winning: NCP leader Majid Memon

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: At a time when ministers in the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra are facing fire from central investigating agencies, former Rajya Sabha member and NCP leader Majeed Memon on Monday appeared to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “If Narendra Modi wins people’s mandate and is also shown as world’s most popular leader, there must be some qualities in him or good work he may have done which the opposition leaders are unable to find,” he said in remarks that have raised eyebrows.

    Memon told PTI that the opposition should introspect why Modi keeps getting such a “positive mandate” and dismissed suggestions of manipulation of EVMs, an oft-repeated complaint of the Congress and other political parties.

    “Opposition must find out why he is returning with a majority of people’s mandate time and again. Why is he considered as the number one leader in the world? He must be doing something which we may not have been able to identify,” said Memon, who was a member of the Rajya Sabha between 2014 and 2020.

    “What is the secret of this man getting so much positive support from the people? Why are people not understanding that this NDA government is destroying the Constitution of India, destroying the concept of liberty, creating hatred,” said Memon, who continues to be associated with Sharad Pawar’s NCP.

    “Why are people not understanding this? What good has he done? It is the duty of the opposition to go to the bottom of the matter,” he said.

    Memon said while Modi has been claiming to have built toilets, providing electricity to several homes, and constructing roads, the ruling BJP has also “created hatred among neighbours, spread animosity among religions and not treated people equally as mandated by the Constitution”.

    “Are people happy with this,” he asked.

    “Despite trying to impose uniform civil code, high inflation, so much unrest, why is he getting a positive mandate,” Memon wondered.

    A leading criminal lawyer, Memon has held the legal brief for leading personalities, including politicians, film stars and human rights activists among others.

    He also defended several suspects in the 1993 Mumbai blast case and also held the brief for Yakub Memon, who was convicted and given capital punishment for his involvement in the terror act.

  • Sugar mills sold as per court orders during Congress-NCP rule in Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Refuting the allegations of Opposition that the erstwhile NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra had sold sugar mills at undervalued rates, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday claimed in the Legislative Council that their auctions were carried out as per court orders and there were no irregularities in the entire process.

    Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, countered the allegations in this regard levelled by Leader of Opposition in the Council Pravin Darekar of the BJP on Wednesday.

    “The earlier state government auctioned sugar mills after court orders. Jarandeshwar sugar mill was sold for Rs 65 crore when its actual valuation was Rs 39 crore. The state even refused to stand as a guarantor as it wanted the mills to sustain on their own. Multiple people tried to revive the mill but they could not do so,” he said.

    The NCP-Congress coalition was in power in the state from 1999 to 2014.

    “When Harshwardhan Patil was the cooperation minister, a factory was sold for Rs 3 crore and a mill in Barshiv was sold for Rs 28 crore, but no one is talking about them,” taunted Pawar.

    Patil was a senior Congress leader who joined the BJP in 2019.

  • NCP protest march: Lakshadweep admin bans gathering in public places till further orders

    By Express News Service

    KOCHI: The Lakshadweep administration has prohibited the gathering of more than four persons in public places and banned all types of processions in public places and roads in all its islands till further orders in the wake of the protest march proposed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).The order, issued by S Asker Ali, IAS, in his capacity as District Magistrate, Union Territory of Lakshadweep, will be effective till further orders from 10 pm on Sunday (March 20).Ali, in his order, said the administration received intelligence reports from various sources including that of the Special Branch units of the Lakshadweep police that the proposed protest march by NCP on Monday at Kavaratti and other nine islands viz., Minicoy, Agatti, Andrott, Kalpeni, Amini, Kadmat, Chethlat, Kiltan, and Bitra may cause “disturbance to the public tranquillity and may cause rioting in the islands”.”…even though the office bearers of the Nationalist Congress Party have submitted applications for conducting the protest march by stating it as a peaceful protest, the actions done by the supporters of the said ‘protest march’ clearly shows that they are instigating the common people to do acts prejudicial to the public tranquillity and social harmony”.Asker Ali, who is also the Collector, said the present MP of Lakshadweep (Mohammed Faizal PP), who is the main organiser of the protest march, has made a provocative statement and demanded the common people of Lakshadweep to showcase their power against the administration. “He further challenged and intimidated the Administrator of UT of Lakshadweep that people of Lakshadweep will show their power against the administration ie., the government established by law”.He said the supporters of the protest march were about to meet and proceed in a procession along the public streets of the islands of the union territory and “such processions and like likely to lead a riot in the islands.”

  • AIMIM ready to ally with NCP and Congress; we are not ‘B’ team of BJP: Imtiaz Jaleel

    By PTI

    AURANGABAD: The AIMIM is willing to ally with NCP and Congress, which are constituents of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, party MP Imtiaz Jaleel said, adding the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party is not the ‘B’ team of BJP as alleged by mainstream parties.

    Jaleel said he spoke about the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s willingness to tie up when state minister and NCP leader Rajesh Tope visited his residence on Friday.

    “Tope visited me on Friday, days after lost my mother due to an illness. It is always alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party wins because of us (AIMIM- due to splitting of Muslim votes). To prove this allegation wrong I proposed to Tope that we are ready for an alliance. However, he didn’t say anything about my offer,” Jaleel, who heads the Maharashtra unit of AIMIM, told reporters on Friday night.

    Now we want to see whether these are just allegations against AIMIM or they (Congress and NCP) are ready to join hands with us, he added.

    Queried about the likely stand of Shiv Sena regarding AIMIM’s offer, the Aurangabad MP avoided a direct reply.

    “The fact is that these parties want votes of Muslims. Why only NCP? The Congress also says they are secular and they also want votes of Muslims. We are ready to join hands with them too. The BJP has done the maximum damage to this country. We are ready to do everything to defeat them,” the AIMIM leader said.

    He said the AIMIM had also spoken (about a tie-up) with the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh (polls), but they wanted votes of Muslims and not Asaduddin Owaisi, who heads the party.

    “In Maharashtra also, these parties (Congress and NCP) want votes of Muslims but not the AIMIM. You blame us for BJP’s victory. I propose that then let us contest the elections together,” he said.

    When asked whether the proposal for an alliance is limited for the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, Jaleel said that the future action depends upon the response AIMIM gets from NCP and Congress.

    “Otherwise we can go alone. We are giving them a chance (to ally) as they call us the ‘B’ team (of BJP),” he said.

    AIMIM had won two seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

    On Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide’s recent remarks about Islam, Jaleel said the former can be compared with Mumbai attack terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

    “Kasab used a gun to weaken India and this man is using vitriol. No religion is bad. People who follow that religion can be good or bad. This person is not worth calling ‘Guruji’,” Jaleel said.