After days of silence on Sachin Waze in connection with the Ambani bomb scare case, NCP and Congress, who are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government along with Shiv Sena, on Tuesday said action would be taken against erring officers and that the government would not shield anyone.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in a meeting with senior Cabinet ministers on Tuesday, discussed various issues, including the Waze episode. “Action will be taken against those who have found erring or connected with the (Ambani security scare) case in the inquiry. The government will not shield anyone,” Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told mediapersons after the meeting.
Bombarded with questions about whether Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh were being replaced, Pawar said the decision on replacing a minister is taken by the respective party chiefs, and the CM has the right to decide on IAS and IPS officers. He added that there was no difference of opinion between the three parties on any of the issues arising from Waze’s alleged involvement in the case.
“In today’s meeting, various issues were discussed. The CM told us that the government will not shield anyone and action will be taken against them. In the Assembly, the CM had said it was not right to take action before inquiry. Now, the CM, government and all three parties’ stand is the same,” he added.
“The government will not shield anyone and the truth will come out in the inquiry,” Shiv Sena Minister Eknath Shinde reiterated.
State Congress president Nana Patole said that BJP had been repeatedly defaming Mumbai and Maharashtra. “The BJP leaders in Maharashtra are working at the behest of Gujarat. Since the actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case, a campaign is being run systematically to defame Maharashtra. While the Mumbai Police is one of the best police forces in the world, they are being portrayed as villains. Congress will not tolerate BJP’s insult to the Maharashtra Police,” said Patole, adding that nobody will be shielded in the Waze controversy.
The statements by NCP and Congress, which were quiet so far, come a day after the NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Thackeray at the latter’s official residence Varsha.
The two leaders discussed Waze’s arrest and the handling of the case by the police amid disquiet in the coalition that the entire episode had cast the government in poor light. A senior Sena leader had told The Indian Express that the two leaders agreed some damage control measures had to be taken to rescue the government’s credibility.
