Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar cancelled his visit to the office of the Enforcement Directorate on Friday amidst fears over the law and order situation in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra.
A section of his party supporters is enraged by the probe being conducted by the ED against Pawar, in connection with a multi-crore scam, and are alleging a political vendetta by the Modi government.
On August 22, Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was also grilled in a different case. Thackeray is an acerbic critic of the Modi government.
While addressing the media on Wednesday, Pawar said that he himself would go to the ED office on Friday to facilitate the investigation.
However, on Friday, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve visited Pawar’s residence and advised him against it. Later, Pawar tweeted: “In this context, the senior police officers from Mumbai Police personally met and apprised me about law and order situation in Mumbai and Maharashtra State, which they felt would lead to some disturbance and therefore requested me to avoid today’s visit.”
In another tweet, he said an email was sent to the ED, informing it about his visit to their office, but the ED reverted saying that his presence was not required on Friday. The ED would inform him if his presence is required at a later date, it said.
There was a massive police presence around the ED office in Mumbai.
Ajit Pawar resigns
Meanwhile, on Friday, senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar resigned as an MLA.
His resignation has been accepted by Speaker Haribhau Bagade. The Speaker said that Ajit Pawar had not disclosed his reasons for resigning.