MUMBAI: It seems there is a competition between the Pawars and it’s not for some very good reasons. Uncle Pawar (Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar) and nephew Pawar (Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar)—both stalwarts of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—have been embroiled in land scams allegedly running into thousands of crores which were exposed during the recently-concluded state Assembly session.
Earlier in the month, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Eknath Khadse of the BJP had accused the Pawar Senior of being involved in a land scam. He had alleged that 326 acres of land in Pune were illegally handed over to a trust and Pawar’s daughter and son-in-law own shares in a technology park, which will be build on a portion of that land.
Khadse had come prepared with the information that had been obtained under Right To Information Act by a Pune-based social activist and said that though the trust had initially laid claim on 3.26 acres of land but was allotted 326 acres land, eventually the title was also changed from non-residential to residential. “The entire land scam is to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore,” Khadse claimed.
For Pawar who was by then already battling against his links with 2G-tainted company DB Realty and its promoter Vinod Goenka, an accused in the 2G spectrum case, this was a double whammy.
Meanwhile, days later during the last days of the Assembly session, a television report alleged that Ajit Pawar had alloted three acres of land to A G Mercantile, near Karjat in Raigad district for tourism development. A G Mercantile is a firm whose shares he owned and whose co-director is Vinod Goenka.
Opposition MLA Devendra Fadnavis said the website of the Corporate Affairs Ministry listed Pawar’s name as an equity shareholder holding 8,800 shares in A.G. Mercantile. However, his election affidavit did not mention the shareholding in the company.
A day later it was reported that a court in Pune had named Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra Pawar as respondents in the alleged land purchase case at Ghotawade village in Pune. The case is related to the construction of Ajit Pawar’s opulent palace near the Mula river basin on the basis of application filed by one Gundgar.
While both the Pawars are busy distancing themselves from these land allegations, a senior Congressman privately whispered, “It’s like another Pawars Vs Pawar IPL; lands are out for grabs.”