A day after the Enforcement Directorate took custody of Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik over a case involving money laundering, Maharashtra BJP Chief Chandrakant Patil has claimed that more enquiries from the central agency will be taking place in the coming days. Patil was speaking at a protest held by state BJP leaders demanding the resignation of Malik from the cabinet.
After the arrest of Malik, Mumbai saw protests from both sides of the political spectrum in Maharashtra on Thursday. Leaders from the Shivsena-NCP-Congress alliance which runs The Maha Vikas Aghadi government protested in front of the Mantralay building (secretariat) against the arrest of Nawab Malik alleging that the move was politically motivated. On the other hand, senior BJP leaders including State President Chandrakant (Dada) Patil, Kirit Somaiya and others took out a protest near Dadar East Railway station demanding the sacking of Malik from the ministry.
While speaking to the media during the demonstration, Patil hinted that more enquiries from the ED are yet to come in the next 2 to 3 days. While stating that Nawab Malik’s case has proven to be a threat to national security, he demanded the arrest of the Minister.
देशद्रोही नवाब मलिक यांच्या विरोधात प्रदेशाध्यक्ष चंद्रकांतदादा पाटील यांच्या उपस्थितित तीव्र आंदोलन https://t.co/6kA2G6oyAl
— भाजपा महाराष्ट्र (@BJP4Maharashtra) February 24, 2022
At the same time, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya released a list of probable leaders from the MVA upon whom ED enquiries could take place. The list includes 12 leaders from Shivsena, Congress and the NCP who have been recently caught in controversies relating to corruption, land grabbing and money laundering. Terming the list as ‘MVA’s dirty dozen’ Somaiyahas called out Anil Parab, Sanjay Raut, Sujeet Patkar, Bhavna Gavali, Anand Adsul, Ajit Pawar, Hasan Mushrif, Pratap Sarnaik, Ravindra Waikar and Jitendra Awhad.
Thackeray Sarkar’s Dirty Dozen
— Kirit Somaiya (@KiritSomaiya) February 24, 2022
Anil Parab
Sanjay Raut
Sujeet Patker
Bhavna Gavali
Anand Adsul
Ajit Pawar
Hasan Mushriff
Pratap Sarnaik
Ravindra Waikar
Jitendra Awhad
Anil Deshmukh
Nawab Malik
Ghotalebajoko Hisaab Dena Padega@BJP4India@BJP4Maharashtra
The other two are Nawab Malik – who was taken in ED custody yesterday and Anil Deshmukh – the ex-home minister who was arrested in November last year for violating the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The BJP leaders during the protest reiterated their stand that Nawab Malik cannot retain his chair as a minister when serious enquiries are taking place against him.
Allegations against MVA leaders
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has always been on the front to ‘expose’ scams related to deals, properties held by leaders from the ruling alliance. Earlier this month, Somaiya alleged that Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has links with Sujeet Patkar’s company which is allegedly complicit in a 100-crore Covid Centre scam. The ED had already summoned transport minister Anil Parab in the Rs 100 crore extortion case in September 2021. The revenue department had already found the leader’s resort in Dapoli to be illegal and the documents submitted were forged.
