Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said the Income Tax Department had served him a notice seeking clarification regarding his poll affidavits.
“I was served a notice yesterday. I read somewhere that Maharashtra Chief Minister and his son too will be served a notice. NCP’s Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule’s name too was discussed regarding this. Out of all the elected representatives in the country, it seems they [Central agencies] have special love and affection for us,” said Mr. Pawar, adding he would soon reply to the notice.
Names of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, his son and State’s Environment minister Aaditya and Mr. Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule were being discussed after the Election Commission referred their poll affidavits regarding alleged discrepancies to the Income Tax Department. While notices have not been served to them yet, Mr. Pawar on Tuesday announced that he had already in receipt of the notice.
Asked whether the move is to pressure the two key players, namely the NCP and the Shiv Sena, of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra and impose President’s rule in the State, Mr. Pawar said, “Is there any reason for this? [To impose President’s rule]. Is the President’s rule some joke?”
This is for the second time that the NCP chief is being targeted by the Central probe agencies. Prior to the 2019 Assembly poll, Mr. Pawar’s name was discussed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after which the veteran politician himself volunteered to turn up at the ED office in Mumbai. It resulted in the probe agency informing him that he will be called when necessary.
Referring to his action with the ED, when asked what he intends to do with the I-T notice, Mr. Pawar said, “As per the notice, delay in replying to it would impose fine to the tune of ₹10,000 per day. Therefore, I will be replying to the notice soon,” he said.
