Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday alleged that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar was trying to implicate "Hindutvawadis" in the Koregaon Bhima violence case despite the absence of any concrete evidence.
Mr Fadnavis made the allegation while talking to reporters a day before the Budget session of the legislature commences.
“During my tenure, the state home department had carried out a thorough probe into the Koregaon Bhima violence case,” the former chief minister, who also held the home portfolio then, said.
“Pawar's first reaction on the violence was that Hindutvawadis were beh-ind it. But police did not find any evidence to back up his claims,” he said.
“The entire investigation and its progress has not been objected either by the Bombay high court or by the Supreme Court. Still by setting up a separate SIT, Mr Pawar
wants to implicate Hindutvawadis in the Koregaon Bhima violence incident,” he alleged.
Replying to a query over it, Mr Fadnavis said, “The Maharashtra police have found a strong evidence that urban Naxal issue is not restricted to Maharashtra alone. It has spread in other parts of the country as well. Hence handing over its probe to the NIA is a welcome move of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.”
Moreover, he attacked the NCP chief over his demand for creation of a trust for construction of a mosque in Ayodhya on the lines of a similar body for Ram temple.
Speaking to reporters on the eve of the Budget session of the Maharashtra legislature, Fadnavis asked why Pawar wanted to build a mosque in the name of an invader like Babur.
“Babar (the first emperor of Mughal dynasty in Indian sub-continent) was an invader. Why on the earth did NCP chief Sharad Pawar want to erect a new mosque in the name of Babur? If Muslims want a place for prayer, they should have one but why in the name of Babar?” asked Mr Fadnavis.
Speaking in Lucknow on February 20, Mr Pawar demanded the Central government to form a trust for building a mosque in Ayodhya similar to the trust to oversee the construction of Ram temple.
“I also wonder why Mr Pawar demanded a trust for a mosque when he knows that a Waqf has to be formed for the same," the former chief minister said.
