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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Nawab Malik’s presence on the treasury benches during the first day of the Maharashtra Assembly’s winter session has led to disquiet among the BJP members. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote a letter to deputy CM Ajit Pawar, taking exception to Malik’s presence, and stating that it would be “inappropriate” to include Malik in the present ruling alliance in view of the pending cases against him and accusations of his linkages with “terrorists”.
“Former Minister and Member of Legislative Assembly Nawab Malik came to the legislature today (Thursday) and participated in the proceedings. He has a right to do so being a member of the Legislative Assembly. I would like to clarify that we have absolutely no personal enmity or grudge against them. However, in view of the accusations that he is facing, we believe that it would be inappropriate to take him into our alliance,” Fadnavis said in his letter to Pawar, where he addressed him as NCP president.
सत्ता येते आणि जाते.
पण सत्तेपेक्षा देश महत्वाचा… pic.twitter.com/WDzm3Pjo3f— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 7, 2023
Malik and Fadnavis share an uneasy relationship, with the former leveling a slew of accusations against the then leader of opposition before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March 2022 in a money laundering case linked to gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Malik spent 18 months in Jail before being granted bail on medical grounds by the Supreme Court in August 2023.
“He is out on bail only on medical grounds. If the charges against him are not proved, you must welcome him back. But we are of the clear opinion that it will not be right to make him part of our alliance, when there are such allegations against him. It is the right of every party to decide on whom it wants to include in its fold. However, constituents of the alliance also need to take into consideration that their decisions do not hurt the alliance. It is for this reason that we are against this,” Fadnavis said.
He also took a swipe at the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for retaining Malik as a cabinet minister despite his arrest. “We can’t identify with the then Chief Minister and the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance, which kept him as a minister even when he was charged for having dealing with traitors. I hope you will understand our sentiments,” the letter said.
Malik created a buzz on Thursday morning when he attended the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur, sitting in the treasury benches, hinting that he had thrown his lot in the Ajit Pawar faction after the split in the NCP.
Shiv Sena UBT was the first to criticise the move with the Leader of Opposition of the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve slamming the decision to allow Malik sit in the treasury benches. Danve attacked the ruling BJP legislators for allowing Malik to rub shoulders with them after previously branding him a “terrorist” and “traitor”.
Minister Shambhuraje Desai objected to Danve raising the issue in the Upper House, which prompted Shiv Sena UBT MLC Anil Parab to enter a verbal duel with Desai. Danve said he raised the issue with the permission of the Council deputy chairperson. Without naming Malik, Danve said, “A member is sitting in the Lower House. The CM and the deputy CM have been saying that they will never rub a shoulder with one who is a traitor. The same person who was branded as a traitor could be seen rubbing shoulders with ruling party legislators by sitting in the treasury benches.”
Responding to Danve, Fadnavis said, “I wonder how those leaders who had taken a stand to not take the resignation of Malik when he was in jail, are now asking for our stand… We had demanded his resignation when he was put behind bars and there was evidence that he had a terrorist connection. But the Uddhav Thackeray-led government did nothing in this direction. So, you should first answer as to why you didn’t take his resignation despite him being in jail…”
Later in the day, Malik was seen sitting in the NCP Ajit faction office in Vidhan Bhavan. When asked which NCP faction Malik would side with, NCP Ajit faction chief whip Anil Patil said, “Nawab Malik himself will reveal who he is with. Also, our national president will tell us whose side he is on. Nawab Malik will go and sit in the House, after that, everything will be clear. We have been given an office in the legislature premises. The Speaker has given that office. There is no faction issue because the NCP is ours.”
Speaking on the Malik seat allotment issue, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said, “The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly has the right to decide where anyone should sit in the House.”
However, Vidhan Bhawan officials said since the two NCP factions were not recognised by the Speaker yet, there was no question of having separate seating arrangements for NCP MLAs belonging to the two factions.
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