MVA slams Centre for searching Deshmukh's house, say raids out of frustration

Maha Vikas Agadi leaders have slammed the BJP-led Centre for the Enforcement Directorate’s search on the premises of former home minister Anil Deshmukh. NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the raids were nothing new and that it reflected the BJP government’s ‘frustration’.

“Earlier some attention was showered on the businesses of his son; as far as my information goes, they could not find anything. So out of frustration, they are trying to harass him in another way,” Pawar alleged. Deshmukh was not the first person to face action by central agencies. “Those in power using central agencies is a new trend. We are not worried about it,” Pawar told journalists in Pune.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut dared the Centre to take action against those involved in the Ayodhya land deal. “If you have to check land records, then the Ayodhya land deal involving the Ayodhya mayor is a fit case for investigation. Central agencies should be investigating the deal. The BJP central executive should also pass a resolution asking for CBI and ED to investigate the Ayodha land deal,” Raut said. The Maharashtra state executive meet had on Thursday passed a resolution seeking a CBI probe in to MVA ministers Ajit Pawar and Anil Parab.


NCP’s Supriya Sule called the raids ‘similar to Emergency’. “This is unfortunate, such things have no place in a democracy. This is one of the worst kind of politics. Never have I seen such blatant use of government machinery for political purposes and to take political revenge,” she said. Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant questioned the basis of the ED search. “How can they conduct a raid on Deshmukh’s home when both Parambir Singh and Sachin Vaze have said there was no exchange of money?”