Pawar summons NCP leaders to Delhi, pressure mounts on Deshmukh

NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar has summoned Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and party chief Jayant Patil to Delhi on Sunday to discuss the fallout of the allegations against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

New Delhi:Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Supremo Sharad Pawar has summoned Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and party chief Jayant Patil to Delhi on Sunday to discuss the fallout of the allegations against the party leader and Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

This comes in the wake of the pressure building within the alliance of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) that Deshmukh should quit after the allegations were levelled against him by the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. The BJP has also called for his removal.

Sources within the alliance say that allegation is a very serious one and only face saver would be his resignation but final call on the issue will be taken by Sharad Pawar.

Read: Maha Home Minister to file defamation suit against Param Bir Singh

While rejecting Singh's allegations that the state home minister sought extortion money, Anil Deshmukh alleged that Singh was levelling false allegations against him to save himself.

Deshmukh on Saturday said that the threads of the investigation being carried out against Sachin Vaze in the SUV case are leading to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

In a sensational twist to the SUV case, Param Bir Singh on Saturday hit out at Deshmukh by virtually alleging that the minister wanted his team member, arrested cop Sachin Vaze, to 'collect' Rs 100 crore per month from bars and hookah parlours.

Read: Letter was sent from my email ID: Ex- Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh

Taking strong umbrage at Deshmukh's remarks that Singh's transfer as Commandant-General of Maharashtra Home Guards was not for administrative purposes but for "unpardonable lapses" by his team, the former Mumbai top cop shot off an eight-page missive to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying he was made a "scapegoat" for "extraneous and vindictive reasons".

IANS