MUMBAI: Sharad Pawar on Monday ruled out state home minister Anil Deshmukh’s resignation. “The question of his resignation does not arise,” he said. The NCP chief said he had on Sunday termed the allegations as serious and suggested an inquiry but the new information had changed the situation.
Devendra Fadnavis and other BJP leaders soon tweeted Deshmukh was not in quarantine but had addressed a press meet on February 15. Fadnavis later said Pawar had not been briefed properly. “From the series of SMSes mentioned in Singh’s letter, it is clear the meeting took place at end of February,” he tweeted.
When claims of BJP leaders about Deshmukh having addressed a press conference on February 15 were mentioned to Pawar, he said details given to him like the hospital certificate showed Deshmukh was in quarantine. Some aides told Pawar at the press meet that the video posted by BJP could be a video conference by Deshmukh.
Deshmukh, however, said he had indeed spoken to the media that day. “Fadnavis has raised questions mark over my interaction with the media on February 15. I never denied it. After I tested positive for Covid-19, I was admitted in a Nagpur hospital on February 5. After I was cured, I was discharged, and as I was coming out of hospital, there were a large number of mediapersons who were keen to know my views on the row over tweets of Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar on farmers. Initially, I told them that owing to weakness, it would not be possible for me to comment but when they insisted, I spoke to them for a few minutes and then left for Mumbai.”
Deshmukh admitted he had flown to Mumbai but said it was not against medical advice. He said he had consulted his treating doctor and only after his approval had travelled to Mumbai. “My discharge certificate is clear. It says, ‘He is non-infectious to others from Covid-19 point of view and he is fit to fly considering his current stable medical condition’,” Deshmukh said, quoting from the certificate signed by Manoj Pethe, consultant pulmonologist at Alexis Multispeciality Hospital, Nagpur.
Pawar reiterated his charge that allegations against Deshmukh appeared an attempt to disturb the probe into the “main case” about the explosives-laden car found outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and the alleged murder of the car owner.
Pawar said that the ATS investigation in the case was going in the right direction as it had arrested two people for the killing.