NCP: Some NCP leaders joined hands with BJP as they were threatened by ‘agencies’, says Sharad Pawar | India News

NEW DELHI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar has said that party leaders who switched sides to Ajit Pawar faction, were being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
“Recently some of our people joined the government saying that they joined hands with the BJP on the issue of development. Some of them were under ED investigation, some of them did not want to face investigation,” Sharad Pawar said.

The NCP chief lauded the Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and said “…but some like Anil Deshmukh accepted going to jail and spent 14 months there. He was also offered to join their side (BJP) to avoid investigation but he said that he did not commit any crime and chose not to leave his ideology…”

Pawar also alleged that some of the NCP leaders joined hands with the BJP since they were threatened by the “agencies“.
“Some of our associates joined BJP under the pressure of investigations by agencies. They were told if you join us (the BJP) then nothing will happen in your cases but if you don’t join then you will be shown a different place (jail)”.

The crisis in the NCP was triggered on July 2 when Ajit Pawar (then Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly) switched sides and joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government.

Pawar was later sworn in as a deputy chief minister of the state. Maharashtra’s other deputy chief minister is BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.
(With agency inputs)