New Delhi: At least nine Maharashtra MLAs joined Ajit Pawar on Sunday as he jumped ship from the Nationalist Congress Party and joined the Eknath Shinde government. Soon after, NCP chief and Ajit’s uncle Sharad Pawar said that many of those who were leaving the party had the Enforcement Directorate on their heels – suggesting that this is why they were aligning themselves with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh too made a similar statement when he tweeted that “the BJP’s Washing Machine has resumed its operations”. “A number of new entrants into the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra today had been facing serious corruption charges with ED, CBI and Income Tax authorities after them. Now they have all got a clean chit,” Ramesh said.
Who are these leaders who are under investigation?
1. Aditi Sunil Tatkare
While Aditi herself is not facing any charges, her father Sunil Tatkare, an MP from the NCP, has been facing corruption charges for a long time. The Maharashtra state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) named him in a 2017 chargesheet on alleged corruption in the Kondhane dam project on Ulhas river. Tatkare was the irrigation minister in the Congress-NCP government.
2. Hasan Mushrif
The ED had filed a case against Mushrif for money laundering. The case relates to the Sar Senapati Santaji Ghorpade Sugar Factory, in which Mushrif’s sons are directors. The ED claimed that while setting up the factory, Mushrif had appealed to farmers to contribute Rs 10,000 to raise capital. According to the agency, 40,000 farmers paid the amount but were not given share certificates – instead, they were given sugar and other benefits at nominal rates.
3. Chhagan Bhujpal
Bhujpal and his family members are being investigated by both the ACB and the ED for alleged money laundering and land grabbing. Reports say a total of nine different allegations were put forth by the agencies, including on Maharashtra Sadan scam and Kalina land grabbing case. In 2022, an activist petitioned the Bombay high court against Bhujpal being discharged in the Maharashtra Sadan scam. The ACB has alleged that a private builder was appointed for government projects, including the construction of the Maharashtra Sadan, without offering any bids and the Bhujbals received kickbacks for the same.
4. Praful Patel
The ED in 2022 attached four floors of a commercial property owned by Praful Patel in a money laundering case involving late gangster Iqbal Mirchi, a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The ED had filed a complaint against Mirchi and other members of his family in December 2020 stating that Mirchi had bought properties in India using money earned through illegal activities and later sold them for redevelopment.
5. Ajit Pawar
Finally, Pawar himself has been under scrutiny in the ED’s money laundering case pertaining to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank. The ED has said that the transactions between a company that purchased a Satara sugar mill in an auction (after it became an NPA) and leased it to a company linked to NCP leader Ajit Pawar were “paper transactions”.