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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Rohit Pawar's SOS to PM, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai : Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar alleged that the VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd. had high political and business connections, some linked with state governments or aligned with the ruling party at the centre who were attempting to divert the probe into the Jan. 28 Baramati air-crash ostensibly to protect the company. In another hard-hitting media-presentation, Rohit Pawar spoke of a “high-level political and commercial conspiracy” behind the air tragedy that killed five...

Rohit Pawar's SOS to PM, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai : Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar alleged that the VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd. had high political and business connections, some linked with state governments or aligned with the ruling party at the centre who were attempting to divert the probe into the Jan. 28 Baramati air-crash ostensibly to protect the company. In another hard-hitting media-presentation, Rohit Pawar spoke of a “high-level political and commercial conspiracy” behind the air tragedy that killed five persons, including his uncle, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit A. Pawar last month.   The Karjat-Jamkhed lawmaker claimed that conducting deep study after his earlier presentation in Mumbai, his team found “the threats of VSRVPL led to very influential people”.   “Moreover, the company is backed by some big leaders in power and prominent industrialists, among its lenders are persons with direct connections to the Telugu Desam Party and others,” alleged Rohit Pawar.   Pointing fingers at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), he said that many of its former officials could also be involved and such a scale of hold by the VSRVPL suggested the possibility of “an international-level of political or commercial plot”.   “The people involved seem to be extremely big… Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah can take personal charge to ensure justice for Ajit Pawar. I plan to meet and submit a letter to them on this,” said Rohit Pawar.   Simultaneously, he urged Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to intervene in the matter, plus support the demand for the resignation of Minister of Civil Aviation K. Rammohan Naidu, at least till the probe is completed, asking why the Minister allegedly cleared the operator of any culpability soon after the disaster.   Rohit Pawar reiterated his suspicions on other irregularities surrounding the crash of the Bombardier Learjet 45, registered as VT-SSK, on the Black Box which was retrieved earlier this week.   “When the DGCA rules mandate a two-hour recording capability, why did this aircraft’s Cockpit Voice Recorder have a capacity of only 30 minutes recording? If the aircraft was worth some Rs 35 cr. how come it was insured for Rs 210 cr. and the pilot was covered for Rs 50 cr.,” demanded Rohit Pawar.   He raised the possibility of the pilot suffering from mental and financial stress as he had been jobless for four years after leaving the defunct Jet Airways where he earned around Rs 10-12 lakhs per month, but at VSRVPL, his pay was barely 25-30 percent.   Rohit Pawar asked whether the concerned flight safety manager had been probed or booked as the Learjet 45 was being operated ‘illegally’ without a proper license and it was earlier banned in Europe.   Rohit Pawar roasts political trolls Taking strong umbrage to the social media trolling of his exposes on the Baramati air-crash, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar pointedly alleged: “Though we know they represent the BJP, who is paying them?” - during his New Delhi presentation, vowing not to rest till justice is done.   “If the BJP trolls oppose our demand for a thorough probe, is the party involved in it? We seek information through RTI and get nothing, but the trolls seem to get it from the authorities. Is it an attempt to scare us,” he wondered.

Unrest within Mahayuti

Updated: Jan 21, 2025

Mahayuti

Mumbai: The state administration on Sunday stalled the appointments of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik districts. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had cleared the appointments before he left for Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum on Saturday. They are believed to have been stalled on behest of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the state in absence of the Chief Minister.


NCP’s Aditi Tatkare and BJP’s Girish Mahajan were entrusted with responsibilities of guardian minister for the Raigad and Nashik districts respectively, where Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale and Dada Bhuse had staked claims. Gogawale is a first-time minister while, Bhuse had been the guardian minister of the district during previous government under Eknath Shinde.


Shiv Sena, NCP and BJP all the three constituents of Mahayuti have strong roots in both the districts. However, the Shiv Sena and the NCP had been particularly on loggerheads there. The Shiv Sena, which had been demanding the guardian minister’s post in Nashik district has managed to win only two assembly seats in the district where the NCP has Six and the BJP has Five MLAs. On the contrary, in Raigad the NCP has won only one seat while the Shiv Sena and the BJP both have Three MLAs each in the district.


Sunil Tatkare, MP from Raigad Lok Sabha constituency and the stat unit president of the NCP and father of Aditi Tatkare, had been the guardian minister of Raigad between 2004 and 2014. Gogawale had always been his political opponent before Tatkare joined the Mahayuti government under Ajit Pawar’s leadership in 2023. Gogawale claimed that all the Six Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs in the district had opined in his favour to be the guardian minister of the district and after the decision to appoint Aditi Tatkare was announced, his supporters resorted to violent protests. They burnt tyres in bid to stall traffic on highway in the district. Reacting to the developments, Tatkare said that the issue should be pondered over after CM Fadnavis returns from Davos on Saturday and settled amicably.


In Nashik Girish Mahajan had been the guardian minister of the district between 2014 and 2019 when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.


The post of guardian minister doesn’t have any constitutional mandate and is considered to be a political appointment. Guardian ministers head the district planning and development councils (DPDC) that control the funds for development works being carried out in the particular district. This control wields much of political power to the minister in that district whereby spreading the party in the district becomes much easier. This is the reason why the grass root politicians seem to be very sensitive to such appointments.


While Gogawale and Bhuse are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian ministers, some others like NCP’s Hasan Mushrif and BJP’s Pankaja Munde are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian district in their home districts of Kolhapur and Beed respectively. DCM Shinde is learnt to have gone to his ancestral village Dare in Satara district after the decision and BJP’s firefighters Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Girish Mahajan are expected to meet him there to try finding a way out of the issue.

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