Rohit Pawar seeks Civil Aviation Minister's removal till probe into Ajit Pawar crash ends
Mumbai (PTI): NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday demanded that Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu be removed from his post until the probe into Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's plane crash is completed.
The legislator, who is the nephew of the late NCP leader Ajit Pawar, also claimed that the VSR company, whose Learjet plane carrying his uncle crashed in Pune's Baramati town last month, was being protected.
The civil aviation minister and his party (Telugu Desam Party) are close to the VSR company owners, he charged at a press conference.
"Some former ministers from Maharashtra and top TDP ministers from Andhra Pradesh attended the marriage of Rohit Singh, son of the VSR owner VK Singh. The company is allowed to operate and top politicians are still using the Learjet planes of the company," he claimed.
Naidu should not continue as civil aviation minister on moral grounds, Rohit Pawar said.
There is not even a preliminary probe report yet, and there is reason to believe that efforts are being made to save the VSR company, the NCP (SP) leader added.
He said it was good that the NCP leadership, including his aunt and Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded a CBI probe into the January 28 air crash that killed Ajit Pawar.
Sunetra Pawar, accompanied by senior NCP leaders Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel, Hassan Mushrif, and elder son Parth Pawar, met Fadnavis on Tuesday and handed over a letter seeking a CBI probe.
"Many issues that I raised have been included in the letter," Rohit Pawar said.
The probe needs to be impartial and the report needs to be submitted to a committee which includes aviation experts, political leaders, he opined.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in a plane crash at Baramati in Pune district on January 28.
The aircraft accident probe agency, AAIB, on Tuesday said that special support has been sought for the retrieval of data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the Learjet 45 plane involved in the fatal crash.
Rohit Pawar said his family has expressed concern for his safety since he has taken on the "high and mighty".
"I wonder why BJP trolls were criticising me for demanding justice for my uncle. One troll with a verified handle had posted about a political earthquake in the state two days before the plane crash," he claimed.
The MLA also said that if there was a political angle to the accident, it involved two possibilities: one, speculation that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) might join the NDA after merging with the NCP; and two, that Ajit Pawar could quit the NDA following the merger.
Some groups were unhappy with either scenario, he claimed.
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PM Modi meets Google CEO, discusses AI collaborations
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had a meeting with Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc, and discussed the work India is doing in artificial intelligence and how the technology giant can work with Indian students and professionals in this field.
Pichai is here to attend the ongoing India AI Impact Summit, which is being held at Bharat Mandapam here alongside an expo.
"It was a delight to meet Mr. Sundar Pichai on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. Talked about the work India is doing in AI and how Google can work with our talented students and professionals in this field," Modi wrote on X.
The prime minister on Monday visited the India AI Impact Expo here, featuring more than 600 high-potential startups and 13 country pavilions showcasing international collaboration in the AI ecosystem. Over 20 heads of state, 60 ministers and 500 global AI leaders are attending the summit.
