Faisal Malik
Reopening of investigation into 25,000-crore MSCB scam indicates as much
With the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) seeking permission to reopen the investigation into the ₹25,000-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) could be the next target for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), believe party leaders. The EOW, in September 2020, had closed the investigation by filing a closure report in the case in which Ajit Pawar and 75 other directors of the board were named.
Ajit Pawar, who is the leader of the opposition, on Tuesday said that he was open to an investigation into the case. This is not the first probe against him—he has faced investigations from the EOW, Crime Investigation Department (CID), Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), a retired judge and the state cooperation department in the past ten years.
The development in the alleged MSCB scam has come three months after the Shinde-Fadnavis government took over the reins of power in Maharashtra. “I don’t want to make any allegations against anyone,” remarked Pawar when asked if he was being targeted. “I don’t want to say anything because people are smart,” he added tellingly.
The EOW had filed a closure report in September 2020 after its special investigation team (SIT) found there was no criminal aspect to be investigated in the case. The police complaint had named 76 accused in the case, including Ajit Pawar and other political bigwigs from the state. All of them were accused of disbursing loans to sugar mills in blatant violation of prescribed rules.
MSCB is the apex co-operative bank in the state that controls credit in the entire co-operative sector, and forms the backbone of the rural economy.
“I am a citizen who follows all the rules and regulations and the Constitution. I am ready to cooperate fully in the probe and provide any answers that are needed,” Ajit Pawar told reporters on Tuesday.
Interestingly, Ajit Pawar had joined hands with the BJP and formed a government headed by Devendra Fadnavis in 2019, when his uncle, Sharad Pawar, was busy cobbling up a three-party coalition along with the Shiv Sena and Congress. The hastily formed government by Fadnavis and Pawar collapsed after 80 hours, as most of the NCP legislators from the splinter group led by Ajit returned to the party.
This is also not the only investigation against Ajit Pawar, who is considered number two in the NCP after Sharad Pawar. Last year, IT sleuths conducted raids at many places in the state after the ED attached the Jarandeshwar Cooperative Sugar Mill in Satara allegedly linked to relatives of Pawar. He was also an accused in a ₹70,000-crore irrigation scam, which forced him to resign from the post of deputy chief minister over corruption charges back in 2012.
Senior NCP leader and Baramati MP Supriya Sule said that the party had been in the cross-hairs of the BJP for years. “NCP on target is hardly something new,” she told Hindustan Times. “We have long been on the BJP’s hit list with endless, baseless allegations against us.”
On Monday, Rohit Pawar, a grand-nephew of Sharad Pawar, raised the apprehension that the party could be the next target of the BJP after the split engineered in the Shiv Sena by current chief minister Eknath Shinde with the alleged connivance of the BJP.
NCP leaders believe that the reason they could become the BJP’s next target is because they have been doing all they can to keep the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), a three-party coalition, together. “The NCP is the binding factor in the MVA,” said a senior NCP MLA. “If MVA allies stick together, it will create several hurdles for the Shinde-Fadnavis government. The fight in the local body polls and other elections will become tough for them. Thus it is in their interest to break the alliance by any means.”
In February last year, a departmental probe of the state cooperation department conducted by a retired judge-led committee in the alleged ₹25,000 crore MSCB scam gave a clean chit to Ajit Pawar and other directors of the MSCB. The probe was conducted on the basis of critical observations made by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in its inquiry report ten years ago.
Political analysts believe that the BJP’s aim is to weaken the opposition by targeting the NCP. “The BJP has divided the Shiv Sena into two, and now will go after the NCP because it doesn’t want a strong opposition,” said political analyst Hemant Desai. “This is the reason the party has chosen Sharad Pawar’s constituency Baramati as one of the 45 Lok Sabha seats it is looking to win in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The BJP will not stop at Ajit Pawar but will also target other NCP leaders such as Hasan Mushrif among others.”
Several senior NCP leaders are already in trouble. While Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik are in jail over money-laundering charges, Eknath Khadse is facing an ED probe in a Bhosari land deal.