Fadnavis tried to target sons of Uddhav, Ajit Pawar with ‘dirty politics’: Anil Deshmukh

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday intensified his attack on deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, alleging that the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader had even tried to target Aaditya Thackeray and Parth Pawar, the sons of Uddhav Thackeray and Ajit Pawar, with “dirty politics” three years ago when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was in power.

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Deshmukh had earlier alleged that a mediator on behalf of Fadnavis had approached him during the MVA regime to sign four affidavits impleading Uddhav Thackeray in a ₹100-crore extortion case; Aaditya Thackeray in the death of Disha Salian, the former manager of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput; Anil Parab in a corruption case; and Ajit Pawar for extorting money from illegal gutka traders.

The mediator had allegedly conveyed that Deshmukh, in exchange, would get protection from jail over corruption charges levied by former Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh. Deshmukh claimed he had video recordings to prove his allegations.

While Deshmukh did not mention who the intermediary was during that media interaction on July 24, the 74-year-old revealed the name on Monday. In a media interaction, he said that Jan Surajya Shakti party leader Samit Kadam from Sangli, who is “very close to Fadnavis”, had come to him three years ago with a message from the BJP leader.

“[Kadam] told me that he had some message from Fadnavis, which was to name Uddhav Thackeray, Ajit Pawar, Aditya Thackeray, and Anil Parab in certain cases. Later, he came with the drafts and told me that Fadnavis wanted me to make affidavits as per the drafts so that Thackeray and Pawar could be booked. I refused to do so,” said Deshmukh.

The NCP (SP) leader also lashed out at Fadnavis for dragging Uddhav Thackeray and Ajit Pawar’s sons into the picture. “I have never seen such politics in Maharashtra. They did not even spare children; they tried to target them with dirty politics. He said either go to jail or join the BJP,” Deshmukh said.

Showing photos of Kadam with Fadnavis, Deshmukh also raised questions about their proximity. “Why is Samit Kadam so close to Fadnavis? Kadam is not even a corporator, so why did Fadnavis give him Y-category security?”

When Deshmukh had first levelled the allegations last week, Fadnavis had refuted the charges, saying he had audio-video clips of the NCP (SP) leader speaking against Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, and also on other sensitive issues. Fadnavis had threatened to make the clips public if and when the time came. Responding to the threat, Deshmukh said on Monday, “I don’t fear anyone. Baat nikli hai to dur tak jaayegi.” (Now that the matter has been brought up, everything will be revealed.)

Kadam, meanwhile, refuted the charges and alleged that Deshmukh wants to malign Fadnavis’ image ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls. He claimed that he had only uploaded his photos with Fadnavis on social media, adding that he also has pictures with Sharad Pawar and Aaditya Thackeray.

“My party, Jan Surajya Shakti, joined the BJP-led alliance in 2016. Since then, Fadnavis knows me as a leader of an alliance party. I also had the opportunity to meet the BJP’s central leadership, like home minister Amit Shah, and participated in meetings called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So, it’s ridiculous to show that I have close relations with BJP leaders. In fact, Anil Deshmukh has known me longer than Fadnavis has known me. Deshmukh has known me since he was the food and civil supplies minister in the Congress-NCP government,” he said.

Kadam also claimed that it was Deshmukh who called him to meet up after seeing his photos with top BJP leaders. “Anil Deshmukh told me that since you have relations with top BJP leaders, you could help me with this matter of [corruption] inquiry,” he said. When asked what his response was to Deshmukh at the time, Kadam refused to share the details. On the Y-category security cover, he said it was because he was a leader of an NDA alliance party.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut supported Deshmukh’s allegations against Fadnavis and Kadam. “Samit Kadam, who has close relations with Fadnavis, is an RSS-BJP man. Anil Deshmukh and I did not succumb to the BJP’s pressure and chose to go to jail. Those who joined hands with the BJP after [facing] Enforcement Directorate (ED) action, like Praful Patel, Ashok Chavan, and Ajit Pawar, got a clean chit in their cases. Looking at Deshmukh’s allegations about Fadnavis’s conspiracy against top MVA leaders and their children, we can say that Fadnavis is a villain of Maharashtra politics.”

The BJP’s chief spokesperson, Keshav Upadhye, said that if Deshmukh has any proof, he should go to court instead of making allegations before the media. “Deshmukh is trying to set a fake narrative. He should refrain himself from such low-level politics,” he said.

With inputs from ANI