Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Thursday wrote to his colleague, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, asking the latter to keep Nawab Malik, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA, out of the ruling alliance.
Malik was yet to pick sides between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar after his party’s split in July this year as he was behind bars in connection with an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe for alleged money laundering.
However, on Thursday, the first day of the winter session of the Maharashtra Assembly in Nagpur, he made his preference clear when he sat on the treasury benches.
Fadnavis, in his letter dated 7 December, wrote: “Power comes and goes, but the country is more important than power. As of now, he (Malik) is out on bail only for medical reasons. If the allegations against him are not proved then you can definitely welcome him. But while he is facing such allegations, it will not be appropriate to make him a part of the Mahayuti (ruling alliance). This is our clear opinion.”
Mahayuti is the name given to the alliance of the BJP, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra.
Fadnavis made it a point to share the letter on the social media platform X.
सत्ता येते आणि जाते.
पण सत्तेपेक्षा देश महत्वाचा… pic.twitter.com/WDzm3Pjo3f— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 7, 2023
“Who to take in your party is your right. But every constituent party of the alliance has to think about whether this is harming the alliance. So, we are opposed to this (inclusion of Malik in the ruling coalition),” Fadnavis further wrote.
Malik was arrested in connection with the ED’s money laundering probe into the alleged hawala network of Dawood Ibrahim and his aides for promoting anti-national activities in India and spreading terrorism. The ED broadly accused him of having financial links with Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar, owning properties linked to the gangster and facilitating a money laundering racket.
Malik’s arrest in February 2022 came three months after Fadnavis made allegations against the NCP leader of having links with Ibrahim.
On Thursday, even as Malik, who was granted interim bail on medical grounds this August, sat on the treasury benches, he did not speak or offer any explanation to the media. He did not respond to ThePrint’s calls and text message.
Sunil Tatkare, a senior leader from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, did not respond to ThePrint’s calls and text message.
However, Tatkare said on social media that party leaders had not had any political discussion with Malik, who was part of the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) cabinet in Maharashtra. The MVA government comprised the undivided Shiv Sena, the undivided NCP and the Congress.
“MLA Nawab Malik is our senior colleague for many years. He has nothing to do with the events that took place in the NCP in the intervening period. After he was granted bail on the issue of illness, we met as old colleagues to enquire about his health. We have not had any political discussion with him. After coming to the assembly today, it is only natural that he interacts and meets with old colleagues,” he wrote.
आमदार श्री. @nawabmalikncp हे आमचे अनेक वर्षांपासूनचे ज्येष्ठ सहकारी आहेत. राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस पार्टीत मधल्या कालावधीत घडलेल्या घडामोडींशी त्यांचा कुठलाही संबंध नाही. आजारपणाच्या मुद्द्यावर त्यांना जामीन मिळाल्यानंतर जुने सहकारी म्हणून त्यांच्या तब्येतीची विचारपूस करण्यासाठी…
— Sunil Tatkare (@SunilTatkare) December 7, 2023
Verbal duel in legislature
Malik’s presence next to leaders from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction sparked a verbal duel between the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Fadnavis.
Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ambadas Danve, leader of the opposition in the state legislative council, speaking in the upper house Thursday said: “In the lower house (assembly), a member sat on the treasury benches. The CM and deputy CM used to constantly say that they cannot sit next to a traitor. There are allegations of links with Dawood Ibrahim. I just want to know what the government’s stand about this is.”
Fadnavis retorted by saying he was surprised that a leader from a party whose chief did not expel Malik from the state cabinet despite him being behind bars was asking the state government this question.
“We are not sitting next to anyone. I am sitting next to the CM, Ajit dada is sitting next to us and Bhujbal saheb (Chhagan Bhujbal) is sitting next to him. So don’t worry about us. First, you will have to answer why you did not remove him as a minister from the cabinet despite him being in prison,” Fadnavis said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: ‘Triple engine sarkaar’ in Maharashtra. How Ajit Pawar’s rebellion queers pitch for Shinde, MVA