Standing by Chhagan Bhujbal is its “alliance dharma”, the Congress said, even as it compared the NCP leader’s case with Vijay Mallya saying that that if the liquor baron could be allowed to leave the
Standing by Chhagan Bhujbal is its “alliance dharma”, the Congress said, even as it compared the NCP leader’s case with Vijay Mallya saying that that if the liquor baron could be allowed to leave the country, investigation agencies could have avoided arresting the former PWD minister.
“At the end of the day, we are allies. The Congress is not against the inquiries that are being conducted. The current BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state may inquire as much as they want. But, arresting without prior notice is not how you go about it,” Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said while speaking to select media on Tuesday.
He said Bhujbal had been cooperating in all the investigations and his arrest was, thus, not warranted. “If the government can let Vijay Mallya, accused of duping several banks for thousands of crore, leave the country, it could disallow Bhujbal’s arrest as well. He had recently been to the USA and came back. On the other hand, there is no sign of Mallya now,” he said.
Mr Vikhe-Patil, however, did not respond when asked to comment on the NCP’s charge that all decisions taken during Bhujbal’s tenure as the PWD minister were a collective decision of the state cabinet. Mr Vikhe-Patil further said that the Congress and NCP legislators would hold an “informal meeting” Wednesday morning and decide on the next course of action.
Meanwhile, while speaking in the Assembly, CM Devendra Fadnavis said that enforcement directorate (ED) had arrested Bhujbal “only after concrete proof”.
“Should the ED keep quiet if there has been corruption The state government has nothing to do with the arrest which was made by the ED,” Mr Fadnavis said.
Stating that the action was not vendetta against somebody, the CM said “we will not help those seeking to suppress scams.”
