New Delhi: Responding to a question on Opposition claims linking the filing of the closure report by the CBI against him in the aviation case to his joining the ruling BJP-led NDA in the state, senior NCP leader Praful Patel on Friday said his name wasn’t in the FIR registered in the case.
In the case concerning alleged “irregularities” in taking aircraft on lease for Air India, the CBI recently filed a closure report against the former Civil Aviation Minister citing lack of evidence.
To a question on the Opposition’s charge that the graft taint against him was washed off after he was put through the BJP’s “washing machine”, the former Union Minister said at ABP Shikhar Sammelan 2024, “I believe it’s fundamentally wrong to assume my complicity in the alleged case just because I was the Civil Aviation Minister at the time. Those putting the taint on me should go over the CBI’s FIR in the matter and check if my name is in it. The closure report is connection with a certain incident that may have happened at the time. However, there’s nothing in the FIR to suggest that I was involved in it.”
Also weighing in on a pet grouse of the Opposition leaders that the Centre was unleashing the agencies at its disposal on those standing up to the BJP and not giving in to their dictates, the NCP leader, who was among the Ajit Pawar loyalists who broke away and joined the NDA regime in the state, said, “I wish to recall the time when the (Congress-led) UPA was in power at the Centre and DMK leader A Raja was the Union Telecom Minister and fellow party colleague Kanimozhi was a Rajya Sabha member. Who put them behind bars (in the 2G scam case)? Now, these same leaders go around making public statements against Modi-ji. They forget that the 2G and coal scams happened when Modi-ji was nowhere in the picture.”
On the split in the undivided Shiv Sena and the NCP, Patel said, “You should ask the then MLAs of Shiv Sena (UBT), how often they could approach (then CM) Uddhav Thackeray with matters concerning their constituencies or the state. As for us, we never held any grievances against Sharad Pawar but were worried over the changing party lines.”
On his decision to go with the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP, the former Union Minister said, “For many years, people saw me close to Sharad Pawar. I received his advice and guidance over the course of my political career. However, it also needs to be remembered that me and Ajit Pawar took our first steps in politics together. They are different personalities. Looking back, I believe the decision I took was right.”
Asserting that going with the BJP wasn’t a mistake, he added, “The Congress didn’t play the role of a partner (in the MVA) sincerely. Pawar Sahib knew this too. How long could these things be brushed under the carpet? The resentment among many in the party had to be addressed. That’s why we eventually decided to go with the BJP. The country is making rapid strides under the leadership of PM Modi.”