BJP is washing machine which people facing graft charges can join and get clean: Sharad Pawar

Pune: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying it has become a “washing machine” which the people facing corruption charges can join to “get clean”.

He criticised the Centre for targeting the chief ministers of non-BJP-ruled states, including Hemant Soren of Jharkhand and Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi.

Pawar also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over various issues, including his criticism of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Addressing a convention of the workers of his Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) at Lonavala in Pune district, Pawar said, “PM Narendra Modi, while talking about corruption, used to criticise the undivided NCP. In Parliament, a booklet was given to everyone which said what irregularities took place when the BJP was not in power.”

“The booklet mentioned the Adarsh scam and the alleged involvement of Ashok Chavan in the scam. But on the seventh day, Chavan joined the BJP and became its Rajya Sabha member...So on the one hand, you (BJP) make allegations, while on the other, you induct that person into your party,” he said. Earlier, PM Modi talked about the “corrupt” people in the NCP.

“He talked about an irrigation scam worth Rs 70,000 crore in Maharashtra. He also talked about irregularities in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank. I had then said that nobody from the NCP was involved in any irregularities in MSC Bank and dared them to conduct an inquiry by appointing a Supreme Court judge. See where the person is today against whom the allegations were made in this scam,” he said without mentioning Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s name.

“All this shows that the BJP has become a washing machine, which those who are facing allegations of corruption can join and get clean,” the former Union minister alleged.

Ajit Pawar rebelled against Sharad Pawar and joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government in July last year along with several other NCP leaders, thereby triggering a split in the party founded by THE senior Pawar in 1999. The Election Commission allotted the party name NCP and its symbol ‘clock’ to the Ajit Pawar-led faction.

Pawar further said, ‘We formed the NCP, and in doing so, we remained steadfast to the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Today, those in power speak highly of Mahatma Gandhi but denigrate Nehru.’ Just as those who fought for the country’s freedom and made sacrifices accepted Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose’s leadership, they also accepted Nehru’s leadership and his contributions, he added.