Union Home Minister Amit Shah remained tight-lipped about his purported meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and another NCP leader Praful Patel, in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
The meeting assumes significance as it comes in the midst of a political turmoil in Maharashtra following corruption allegations levelled against state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress share power in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in the state.
Shah remained evasive when asked about the meeting with the NCP leaders. "Everything need not be made public," the home minister said when asked about the meeting during a press conference.
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Former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh, in a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20 claimed that Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore monthly from bars and hotels. Deshmukh has dismissed the allegations against him.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut called Deshmukh an accidental home minister, claiming he got the post after senior NCP leaders like Jayant Patil and Dilip Walse-Patil refused the responsibility. "Deshmukh got the home minister's post by accident. Jayant Patil and Dilip Walse-Patil refused to take responsibility. That is why Sharad Pawar selected Anil Deshmukh for the post," Raut wrote in his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the party mouthpiece Saamana.
Raut also said the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra did not have damage control machinery as was seen after former Mumbai police chief's allegations against the home minister.
—With PTI inputs
