After Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday ordered a probe into the ₹300-crore land deal allegedly involving Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son, Parth Pawar, NCP-SP national spokesperson Anish Gawande has issued a statement.
In the statement, Gawande questioned whether this was a tactic by the BJP to put pressure on Ajit Pawar and break his party.
"The CM has ordered an inquiry into the Parth Pawar land matter. We support any action that brings transparency. But where is the same urgency when allegations involve BJP ministers? Why are ICE (Income Tax, CBI, and ED) used only against Opposition leaders and allies, never against those in the ruling party?" read the statement.
“Rohit Pawar has already said that the BJP is trying to poach MLAs ahead of 2029. Is this inquiry yet another tactic to put pressure on Ajit Dada and break the NCP (Ajit Pawar)? Maharashtra deserves fairness, not investigations used as political weapons," it added.
Meanwhile, the government has so far suspended tehsildar Suryakant Yewale and sub-registrar Ravindra Taru in connection with the matter.
According to Inspector General of Registration Ravindra Binwade, 40 acres of “Mahar Vatan land belonging to the government” was sold to Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth Pawar is a partner, for ₹300 crore, and the stamp duty on it was waived.
Being government land, the plot cannot be sold to a private firm, he said.
He said that they have constituted a high-level committee to find out how the government land was sold to a private firm and to ascertain whether the exemption was given as per norms.
"The documents submitted to claim the exemption will be checked. The committee will also see what sort of documents were produced during registration. But as an immediate action, we have suspended the sub-registrar because if it is government land, the registration should not have taken place," Binwade said.
