After allegations from former Mumbai CP, all is not well for MVA

Uddhav Thackeray

Battling a series of upsets of late, the 15-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi government, has landed in yet another disastrous controversy after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of planning to use suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Waze for collecting funds to the tune of Rs 100 crore per month.

The allegations were made a day after speculations of Deshmukh's resignation surfaced and the HM blamed Singh for unpardonable errors in the Antilia bomb scare case.

The development is politically alarming for the MVA, which is confronting tough times. Singh's allegations have raised questions over the government's credibility and ability of ensuring law and order. The MVA's bête noire Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is not expected to take the development lightly and report it to the Centre, which has been waiting for the MVA to falter, even as the three-party MVA appeared to have sat firm in the saddle after stealing the crown from the BJP in 2019.

Deshmukh dismissed Singh's allegations saying that the officer was trying to save himself because the probing agencies were about to establish his involvement in the two criminal cases. "The former Commissioner of Police, Param Bir Singh has made false allegations in order to save himself as the involvement of Sachin Waze in Mukesh Ambani & Mansukh Hiren's case is becoming clearer from the investigation carried out so far & threads are leading to Mr. Singh as well (sic)," he tweeted after the Director General of Home Guards' letter was made public. He has threatened to sue Singh for defamation, and also appealed to the CM to probe the allegations in a fair manner.

Notwithstanding the HM's response, the Opposition demanded Deshmukh's resignation. "It is for the first time that a serving director general of police has made such serious allegations against a serving home minister. The allegations should be probed by the Central agencies. He must go," said Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis. The BJP's New Delhi national headquarters also held a press conference seeking Deshmukh's resignation.

Even before Singh's allegations came in, the MVA's leading partner Shiv Sena had been pressing the NCP to take action against Deshmukh, because CM Uddhav Thackeray had asked one of his ministers Sanjay Rathod to resign in a woman's suicide case. Saturday's letter seems to have consolidated the Sena's demand. The Congress has sought to reshuffle the state cabinet. Sources said the NCP leadership is buying time.