After NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the state unit chief and water resources minister Jayant Patil has strongly supported party colleague and minority affairs minister Nawab Malik for his expose on the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and its zonal director Sameer Wankhede in connection with the drug seizure on a cruise ship and the subsequent arrest of Aryan Khan, among others.
Patil, who was on a party tour to Palghar on Saturday, said Malik may have some concrete evidence against NCB’s Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, without which he would not have made statements against the officer.
“A clear picture will emerge in the near future,” said Patil, slamming the BJP and the government led by it at the Centre for trying all possible ways to pull down the MVA government in Maharashtra.
Instead of probing black money, major tax defaulters and big businessmen, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department are chasing the politicians in the state in order to increase their revenue, he claimed.
“The citizens of the country have now realised the intention of the BJP government behind these raids,” he said, adding that every effort will be made to keep the MVA constituents together in the upcoming civic and other local elections in the state.
Patil’s statement came a day after Malik alleged that he had received a threat call asking him to stop targeting Wankhede. Malik has been firing salvos against the NCB and Wankhede and asserted that once “proof” against him is out, he cannot remain in government service for even one day.
