Sharad Pawar meets PM Modi in Parl as agencies close in on MVA leaders

Sharad Pawar, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Wednesday. According to reports, the meeting between the two leaders held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Parliament lasted for about 20 minutes.

Pawar’s meeting came in the backdrop of central agencies intensifying their investigations against leaders of the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the NCP president might have met the Prime Minister to discuss “developmental works”, while adding that he had no information about the same. “… The country’s prime minister and the national president of a party can meet over developmental works. There are some important issues which need to be discussed when Parliament is in session. There may be such issues,” said Ajit Pawar, who is the NCP chief’s nephew.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took custody of former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh earlier in the day.

Deshmukh was taken into custody by the CBI team from the Arthur Road Prison in Central Mumbai and placed under arrest in connection with corruption allegations raised against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

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The meeting also came a day after the Enforcement Directorate attached assets worth more than ₹11.15 crore of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s wife and two of his associates in a money-laundering case related to certain land deals.

Another NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik is also behind bars.

The NCP is part of the Shiv Sena-led MVA along with the Congress.