Land scam allegations are back in the headlines in Maharashtra, specifically in and around Pune, involving the mighty Pawars. In only two days, the police in Pune and the Economic Offences Wing registered two FIRs against a bunch of people, including officials in the tehsildar’s office and Digvijay Amarsinh Patil, a partner with Parth Ajit Pawar in Amadea Enterprises LLP. The first pertains to about 40 acres of prime land in Mundhwa, off the posh Koregaon Park, earmarked for the use of the Scheduled Caste Mahar community, which was bought by the firm for merely Rs 300 crore, though its commercial value is reportedly Rs 1,800 crore. The second FIR naming Patil, registered Friday by the Pune sub-divisional officer, is about an alleged deal involving government land in Pune’s Bopodi, which too was traced to Amadea Enterprises LLP.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, also the state home minister overseeing the police, also formed an inquiry committee to probe the Mundhwa deal irregularities, and the opposition called for Ajit Pawar’s resignation even as Pawar shrugged off all responsibility on the grounds that he had nothing to do with either deal. The allegations and FIRs come close to the elections to local bodies in Maharashtra, overdue for more than two to three years. The land scams queer the pitch for Ajit Pawar, whose hold over grassroots was the basis of him usurping the Nationalist Congress Party from his uncle Sharad Pawar and becoming deputy chief minister to Fadnavis. Ajit Pawar is also the state finance minister and Pune’s guardian minister. What does Fadnavis ordering a probe say about the largely warm, though need-based, relationship between the two men and their respective parties, the BJP and the NCP? Is this a well-thought-out strategy to stymie Pawar’s local-level influence and handicap him in the elections in a bid to contain or downsize him?
Though the political stakes are high, the land scam allegations demand thorough enquiries. It is not enough for Ajit Pawar to shrug off responsibility on the grounds that his name is not in the records. Was he unaware that his son, Parth, was a partner in the firm that had inked the two deals, and was it unknown in the local corridors of power that the Patil-Pawar company papers had been expedited or shown concessions? If not, why was the stamp duty on the Mundhwa deal allegedly waived? There’s more than meets the eye in this saga—both in the allegations and the rapid response by the CM. But the ring-fencing of Pawars by insinuations is pointless unless Parth Ajit Pawar himself faces criminal charges; he does not so far. Has the shrewd Fadnavis left this as a bargaining chip on the table to keep all the Pawars in place?
