NCP denies ex-cop's claims on Pawar, calls it 'publicity stunt'

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) dismissed as a “publicity stunt” the charges levelled against party chief Sharad Pawar by former police officer-turned-lawyer YP Singh here on Thursday evening. India Against Corruption (IAC) also refuted the activist’s claim that it was going soft on Pawar. Hitting out at the activist, NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said that Singh’s defence of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Nitin Gadkari “proves where his affiliations are”. [caption id=“attachment_495838” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sharad Pawar. Reuters[/caption] “He should concentrate on the matter before the court and win the case instead of making allegations before the media and conducting a media trial like this,” Malik said. IAC dismissed Singh’s charges that its leader Arvind Kejriwal suppressed certain information pertaining to Pawar in the irrigation scam. Singh Thursday attacked Kejriwal for his Wednesday’s Gadkari “expose” and alleged that the scam involving the BJP chief was nothing compared to the one indulged in by Sharad Pawar and his relatives in Lavasa, near Pune. Malik said that the land given to Lavasa Corporation by Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation was as per law and in accordance with the government’s policy to encourage development of new hill stations in the state. “Sharad Pawar is a visionary and…He supported Lavasa project as he wants more hill stations to be developed in the state. Maharashtra did not have a single new hill station after Matheran, Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar which were developed by the British,” Malik said. IAC complimented Singh for raising the issue but clarified on his claim by saying that Pawar’s name was included in the list of 15 ministers against whom it had sought a probe for alleged corruption. “Our top office-bearers had also carried out a 10-day dharna agitation in July. So it is not proper on Y.P. Singh’s part to say that we have kept quiet in the matter of allegations against Sharad Pawar,” IAC said. IANS