Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar has hit back at Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent accusation of corruption, highlighting the latter’s banishment from Gujarat.
During a speech at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conclave in Pune, Maharashtra, on July 21, Shah had labelled Pawar as the “biggest kingpin of corruption in Indian politics” and accused him of “institutionalising corruption.”
Shah stated, “They (opposition) are speaking about corruption. The biggest kingpin of corruption in Indian politics is Sharad Pawar and I have no confusion in that. What will they accuse us of now? If somebody has done the job of institutionalising corruption, Sharad Pawar, it is you.”
Speaking at a book launch event in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pawar hit back at the Home Minister, reminding him of his expulsion from Gujarat in 2010.
“A few days ago, Home Minister Amit Shah attacked me and called me a few things. He called me the ‘commander of all the corrupt people in the country.’ Strangely, the home minister is a person who misused the law of Gujarat and for this, the Supreme Court banished him from Gujarat,” Pawar said.
He continued, “The one who was banished is the home minister today. So, we should think about where we are headed. The way the people in whose hands this country is, are taking the wrong path, we should think about it; or else, I am 100% confident that they will take the country on the wrong path. We must pay attention to this.”
Pawar was referring to Shah’s two-year expulsion from his home state in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Shah, a BJP member, was acquitted of all charges in 2014.