Days after his government fell in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said that he has received notices from the Income Tax Department in connection with the poll affidavits filed by him during the 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2020 General Elections.
Calling the I-T department notices as “love letters,” Pawar tweeted, “The help of Enforcement Directorate (ED) and central agencies are being used nowadays and the results are visible. Many members of the Legislative Assembly say they have received notices of inquiry. This new method has started. We didn’t even know the name ED five years ago. Today, even in the villages, people jokingly say that you will have ED behind you.”
While adding that he has all the information asked by the I-T department, Pawar said, “I also stood for the Lok Sabha in 2009, after 2009 I stood for the Rajya Sabha elections of 2014, and now the notice regarding the affidavit of the Rajya Sabha elections of 2020 has also come. Luckily I have all the information in order.”
Maharashtra NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase asked whether the notices sent by the I-T were “purely coincidental,” considering it has come just after a new government has taken charge in the state.
Back in 2020, a similar I-T notice was served to Pawar. Stating that the central agencies are in love with few people, the NCP supremo pointed out how notices along the same lines were sent by the I-T department to Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray and Supriya Sule.
Earlier, reacting to the “shocking” political developments in Maharashtra, Pawar, said, “I don’t think that the one who led MLAs to Assam had expected more than the post of Dy CM. But in BJP, as per order- be it from Delhi or Nagpur -CM post has been given to Eknath Shinde…The person who was CM & LoP has been asked to take oath as Dy CM. It’s shocking.”
