Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that “not everything is to be made public” when asked about his meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
There were reports that Mr. Shah met the NCP chief at the residence of an Ahmedabad-based industrialist on Saturday. However, sources close to the industrial house denied that any such meeting took place.
NCP minister Nawab Malik told reporters in Mumbai that no such meeting took place, adding “there is an attempt to create confusion by spreading such rumours”.
Mr. Malik claimed that Mr. Shah sought to create confusion by making a journalist ask that question at the media briefing.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, of which the NCP is a constituent, has come under attack from the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) after the arrest of Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze, who allegedly planted explosives in a vehicle near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani on February 25. The last occupant of the vehicle, Mansukh Hiran, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on March 5. A Few days ago, Vaze’s superior and former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh alleged that Maharashtra’s Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had tasked Vaze to collect ₹100 crore from hotels and pubs on a monthly basis.
(Inputs from PTI)