Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal (File Photo)
WELCOMING THE Bombay High Court granting bail to NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, the party on Friday said the decision was long awaited. While all NCP president Sharad Pawar refused to comment, Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil said: “The court’s decision is a welcome move. In the coming days, Bhujbal will go to the people to narrate his experience and the injustice meted out to him under the ruling BJP.”
Accusing BJP of indulging in politics of vendetta, he added: “At a public forum recently, one of their leaders had said that ‘we have kept prison cells ready next to Chhagan Bhujbal’s where more NCP leaders would be lodged’… It was obvious that BJP, by sending Bhujbal to prison, wanted to convey a strong message of its political power and intimidate Opposition leaders.” Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar said, “In the past, we had repeatedly raised Bhujbal’s health concerns in the Assembly. We were expecting his bail much earlier.” On whether Bhujbal would continue in NCP as an active leader, he said, “There is no ambiguity, as he has always been a highly-respected leader. At present, our concern is his health.”
On NCP being accused of sidelining Bhujbal, Pawar said: “The party had stood with Bhujbal and his family throughout. Since the matter was in court, at times there were constrains on making public comments.” A senior Bhujbal loyalists said: “NCP has reconciled to Bhujbal’s fate… it was working to get over BJP leader Eknath Khadse to its fold as an OBC face in north Maharashtra.”
MNS chief Raj Thackeray termed the delay in granting bail to Bhujbal as the handiwork of the BJP. “BJP is responsible for delaying bail to Bhujbal for the last two years… Today, he got the bail as it would help BJP,” Thackeray said. “If Bhujbal has done anything wrong, probe will establish this and action would be taken… But the question is how could he be denied the bail for two years,” he added. BJP leader Madhu Chavan said, “Neither the government nor the BJP had no role in this.”