Pawar waits for 12 hours as ED questions grand-nephew Rohit

In a show of support, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday camped in his party office at Ballard Pier while enforcement directorate (ED) officers grilled his grand-nephew, MLA Rohit Pawar, for 12 hours straight, in the ED office 500 metres away. Rohit’s company Baramati Agro is charged with misusing funds given by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank to the Kannad Cooperative Sugar Factory in an auction.
There was huge police deployment outside the ED office, as hundreds of NCP workers had gathered to rally behind Rohit, shouting slogans in his support and against the BJP and central government. Rohit reached the NCP headquarters first to take Sharad Pawar’s blessings before leaving for the ED office. Pawar reached the party office at 9.30 am, and in a symbolic message of solidarity, gifted Rohit a book on the late Y B Chavan, his mentor and first chief minister of Maharashtra. He then sat in the office for 12 hours, waiting for the interrogation to end.
MP Supriya Sule and a few party MLAs accompanied Rohit till the ED office. Sule gave him a copy of the Indian Constitution, after which Rohit entered the ED office at around 10.30 am. “I have done nothing wrong so I have no reason to be afraid,” he said. “I have cooperated with the ED and other agencies during the probe and will continue to cooperate, as the officials are just doing their duty. But there is a feeling among the public that I am being targeted by government agencies since I raised my voice against the ‘Mahashakti’ (the BJP).”
Sule said that this was a time of crisis and challenges but the opposition would fight and win. She also pointed out that of all the ED’s actions, 95 percent were taken against leaders from opposition parties.
After coming back to the NCP headquarters after his 12-hour interrogation, Rohit met Sharad Pawar, after which the latter left for home. Later, while addressing party workers Rohit Pawar said that the ED had summoned him again on February 1. “The battle is not over but I will never bow down before anyone,” he said. “Our leader Sharad Pawar at the age of 84 is fighting for the pride and interests of Maharashtra and we will continue to support him and will win. Sharad Pawar likes people who fight, not those who run away,” he jibed, without taking the name of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
The Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), both allies of the NCP in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition, also came out in support of Rohit and reiterated that the ED action was politically motivated. “The ED has been used again to suppress the voice of MLA Rohit Pawar, who has been raising his voice against the dictatorial regime,” said Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray. “This has become a fight between ‘Sattamev Jayate’ (Power alone triumphs) and ‘Satyamev Jayate’ (Truth alone triumphs) and finally satya (the truth) will win. We seem to have adopted the Pakistan model of governance, where opposition parties and leaders are harassed by a dictatorial government.”
Congress leaders also criticised the ED action against Rohit. “It’s purely politically motivated,” said Ramesh Chennithala, state in-charge of the Congress. “Has the ED or CBI arrested any BJP leader across the country? The BJP is running the government with the help of the ED and CBI.”