Sharad Pawar.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Lashing out at the BJP for what he described as misuse of central agencies, veteran politician Sharad Pawar on Monday wanted to know as to why since 2014 not a single leader of the saffron party has been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate.
Pawar, who leads the NCP (SCP), said that there is a rampant use of central agencies like Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Income Tax besides others.
To support his contention, Pawar revealed comparative figures of the Dr Manmohan Singh-headed Congress-led UPA, which was in power from 2004-14 and the current Narendra Modi-headed BJP-led NDA dispensation at the Centre from 2014-24.
“ED is the supporting party of the BJP...it appears so,” Pawar told reporters in Pune.
Pawar cited figures of the ED's actions between 2005 and 2023, claiming it registered 5,806 cases and only 25 of them have been disposed of.
"The disposal rate is 0.42 per cent and the conviction rate is just 0.40 per cent. The ED's budget has gone up from Rs 300 crore in 2022 to Rs 404 crore,” one said.
Pawar further added that between 2005 and 2023, two governments were in power. “During the UPA regime, the ED investigated 26 leaders, of whom five were from the Congress and three from the BJP. It shows that during the UPA regime ED's action was not politically motivated, but after 2014, not a single BJP leader has been questioned," Pawar noted.
Pawar’s statement comes days after properties linked to his grandnephew and Karjat Jamkhed Rohit Pawar were attached. “We have seen that the ED has arrested (NCP leader and former Home Minister) Anil Deshmukh and (Shiv Sena-UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut…they are on bail,” he said.
"BJP leaders know about the ED's actions in advance,” Pawar claimed.