Patra Chawl case: BJP seeks probe against Pawar, NCP wants apology

The NCP, meanwhile, denied the allegations, terming it as propaganda. The BJP should apologise to Pawar, it said.

BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar, in a letter to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, demanded a probe against Pawar based on a paragraph in mentioned in the chargesheet that the ED had filed against Raut.

The chargesheet said, “That during the year 2006-07, Sanjay Raut has attended meetings along with MHADA officers and others for redevelopment of Patra Chawl chaired by then Union agriculture minister and another meeting chaired by former chief minister.”

Bhatkhalkar wrote in the letter, “Then Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar was present in the meeting to decide that Guruashish Construction should be given the work of Patra Chawl redevelopment project, in which Marathi people were thrown out of their homes. The meeting was attended by the then chief minister (late Vilasrao Deshmukh).”

“Therefore, a time-bound inquiry should be conducted to check whether Congress and NCP were also part of the conspiracy along with Sanjay Raut and Shiv Sena,” he added.

NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase demanded an apology from Bhatkhalkar for dragging Pawar’s name into the matter while describing BJP as “a super spreader of lies”.

“Having failed the people of the country on issues of inflation, employment, agriculture and many more, the BJP now makes a new, false and baseless accusation against leaders of the Opposition only to divert the attention of masses,” said Tapase.

He added that the party will fight “tooth and nail’ against the false propaganda of the BJP. “Bhatkhalkar must tender an unconditional public apology to Pawar,” he said.