In what he termed a “major revelation” about his arrest, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in Nagpur said that he had “received an offer two years ago” which would have led to the “debacle of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government”. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from Maharashtra have rubbished the allegations.
Speaking to local news channel TV9 Marathi, Deshmukh said, “I had got an offer to compromise two years ago. In return, I was promised there won’t be any action against me. I was told to make false allegations against people, but I refused this offer and denied any compromise. Hence, I had to face jail. If I had compromised then, the MVA government would have collapsed two years ago.”
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Deshmukh in 2021, after then Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh levelled allegations of bribery and extortion against him. Deshmukh was jailed for almost 13 months.
While speaking to the media in Mumbai, Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena UBT leader and member of Rajya Sabha, said, “I am aware of what offer Anil Deshmukh was given and how attempts were made to pressure him. He has got the proofs and video clips of who met him and gave him the offer, and of those who told him to make false allegations. He had even shown some proofs to NCP chief Sharad Pawar then.”
Wednesday’s Saamana editorial, too, spoke about how the BJP allegedly tried to pressure leaders such as NCP’s Jayant Patil to join their party.
“His last visit to the ED office was because he didn’t succumb to their pressure. The BJP even tried to stop NCP leader Nawab Malik by arresting him, as he was raising his voice against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede, who was handling the Aryan Khan drugs case.”
Reacting to Deshmukh’s and Raut’s statements, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said: “Anil Deshmukh is out on bail and that, too, because of his medical condition. Still, there are allegations of bribery and extortion against him. His statements are nothing, but contempt of court. If he continues to make such baseless statements, we will move court.”
Another BJP leader and former minister Ram Shinde said, “Why didn’t Deshmukh say these things when he was the home minister of the state? There is no point blaming any central agency as they work as per the leads they get in the case. The BJP has never put any pressure on anyone.”
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