‘Banished from Gujarat by SC and yet Home Minister…,’: Sharad Pawar slams Amit Shah over corruption ringleader jibe

Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar attacked Amit Shah on July 27, saying it was strange that a person who had been ‘banished’ from Gujarat by the Supreme Court was leading the Union Home Ministry. Pawar’s comments come days after Shah called him the ‘ringleader of corruption in politics.’ 

“A few days ago, Home Minister Amit Shah attacked me and said a few things. He said that Sharad Pawar is the commander of all the corrupt people in the country. Strangely, the man who is the country’s Home Minister today is such a person who misused the law of Gujarat, and for this, the Supreme Court banished him from Gujarat,” Pawar, the veteran leader from Maharashtra said, speaking in Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra. 

Amit Shah was extended from the state for two years in 2010 in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. He was later acquitted in the case in 2014.

Pawar’s attack comes days after Amit Shah mounted a scathing attack on him in his home district, Pune by calling him the ‘sargana’ (ringleader) of the corrupt people in the country. “The opposition is accusing us of corruption but the biggest ringleader of corruption in Indian politics is Sharad Pawar. If any politician in any government in the country has institutionalised corruption, it is Sharad Pawar, and I have absolutely no confusion about it,” Amit Shah said while addressing the BJP conclave in Pune on July 21.

Shah hit out at the opposition alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Sharad Pawar over the alleged milk powder import circular that is making the rounds in the state. He accused the MVA of “spreading lies” and announced that not even 1 gram of milk powder will be imported in the next five years.

“BJP got 240 seats, NDA got 300 seats and the entire INDIA bloc did not even get 240 seats. Even if we combine the seats won by Congress in the past 3 elections, even then they can not breach the 240-seat mark. In this election also, the people of India gave Modi ji their stamp of approval. BJP stood victorious for the third consecutive time,” said Shah.