Poll-time ‘witch-hunt’

The election season is synonymous with political one-upmanship. Fixing one’s detractors often takes precedence over burning issues. Sharad Pawar is well past his prime, the Nationalist Congress Party headed by him is in disarray, and yet the former CM is no pushover in Maharashtra politics. Weeks before the Assembly polls, the Enforcement Directorate has booked him, his nephew and former Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and others for alleged money-laundering linked to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam, pegged at around Rs 25,000 crore. The timing of registration of the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) elicits an obvious question: why did it take the BJP-Shiv Sena government so long to initiate proceedings against the Pawars? It was in 2015 that activist Surinder Arora had filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing and also approached the high court. The FIR was finally registered by the Mumbai police last month. CM Devendra Fadnavis owes an explanation for the delay, which is in stark contrast to the sustained action against former Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal in another PMLA case.

Known for pulling no punches, Sharad Pawar had recently taken a swipe at the ruling BJP. The ex-CM boasted that he had never been to jail for ‘whatever good or bad things he had done’, while alluding to Amit Shah’s arrest by the CBI in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh ‘fake encounter’ case in 2010. This jibe might not have been the immediate provocation, with the government claiming that the law is taking its course and there is no political interference.

In another move being viewed with suspicion, especially by the Opposition, Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa’s wife has received a series of notices from the income tax department for alleged tax evasion. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Lavasa had objected to the EC’s clean chit to Shah and PM Narendra Modi for alleged violations of the model code of conduct. The ‘strong and stable’ government’s credibility should not come under a cloud. It needs to convincingly dispel speculation that central agencies are being misused to settle scores.