The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday hit out at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, alleging he took no steps to bring back gangster Dawood Ibrahim despite his offer to surrender.

“The proposal had gone through the then Rajya Sabha member, Ram Jethmalani. I too was a member of the Upper House and we were friends. He mentioned this to me. It was up to the Prime Minister to decide on what terms and conditions the mafia don could have been brought back. He (Pawar) must clarify whether he had informed the then PM (P.V. Narasimha Rao) or kept the information to himself,” said Mr. Ambedkar. Despite Dawood’s offer to surrender in 1993, the then Chief Minister, Mr. Pawar, took no steps in the matter, he said..

This is not the first time Mr. Pawar’s opponents have raised the issue of Dawood Ibrahim to target him during the elections. In the late 1990s, Bharatiya Janata Party leader, the late Gopinath Munde, too had made similar claims. However, the allegations were never investigated despite the BJP-Shiv Sena government coming to the power in the State.

“This is being done to help the Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections. Sharad Pawar has repeatedly made it clear in the past that the terms and conditions on which the fugitive criminal sought to surrender were not acceptable to the government,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

Moreover, Mr. Malik asked, if Mr. Jethmalani was such a nationalist, why did he not inform Interpol about meeting Dawood. “Later, he was Union minister and there was a BJP government twice in the Centre and State. Why could they not get Dawood to surrender? Did Mr. Jethmalani ever raise the issue with the BJP government?” Mr. Malik asked.

Mr. Ambedkar’s statement comes a day after his former associate, Justice (retd) B.G. Kolse-Patil raised doubts over forming a third front. “If we do not ally with the Congress and the NCP, I cannot see how we can defeat the ruling BJP,” he had said.