As political churning resumes in Maharashtra with the Supreme Court set to deliver its verdict on the crisis triggered by the split in Shiva Sena, two developments have caught the attention of observers: NCP leader Ajit Pawar reportedly being dropped from the Enforcement Directorate chargesheet in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam of 2019 and former minister Anil Parab not being named in the agency’s chargesheet into the Dapoli resort case.
The MSCB money laundering case dates back to 2019 and pertains to alleged violation of banking and RBI regulations while disbursing loans to sugar mills at very low rates and selling off assets of defaulter businesses at throw-away prices. Ajit Pawar, the former deputy chief minister, was director of the bank, which allegedly suffered losses of “Rs 25,000 crore” between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017.
The Dapoli resort case, meanwhile, stems from a complaint filed by the Union Environment and Forest Ministry against Parab, Sai Resort, Sea Conch Resort and others for alleged violation of the Environment (Protection) Act.
The ED had alleged that Parab “in connivance” with aide Sadanand Kadam got “illegal permission” from the local sub-divisional office to convert agriculture-only land into one for non-agricultural use, and constructed a resort in violation of CRZ (coastal regulation zone) norms.
The ED has said that investigation in both cases is underway and supplementary chargesheets may be filed too.
Both politically sensitive cases are now in sharp focus given the Supreme Court verdict on the disqualification of 16 MLAs of the Eknath Shinde camp who revolted to bring down the MVA government of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP in 2022.
Speculation was rife that Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, is in talks with the BJP and that around 40 MLAs have extended support to him. The party and Ajit Pawar both, however, denied the speculation as rumours.
Reports of the purported back-door talks between the BJP and the NCP also led to buzz of unease in the Eknath Shinde faction.
‘ED Sarkar’
First names of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis form the initials ‘ED’ but that’s not the only reason the opposition has dubbed the Maharashtra government “ED sarkar”. Before the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition last year, the ED had issued summons in cases to several MLAs of the Eknath Shidne faction who were then in the united Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackeray.
The ED had then been investigation money laundering charges against Yamini Jadhav, Yashwant Jadhav, Pratap Sarnaik, Gulabrao Patil, Tanaji Sawant and Anandrao Adsul, among others.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction, Congress and NCP had also raised questions on investigations and summons against these leaders allegedly coming to a halt after Shinde took power with BJP support.
With names of Ajit Pawar and Anil Parab, a senior leader in the Uddhav Thackeray faction, being kept out of the chargesheets, there is intense speculation in political circles that it was a deliberate move to keep the door open on negotiations with Pawar and Thackeray if the Supreme Court disqualifies the 16 MLAs.
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