My fight won't end till I give father party he founded, symbol: NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule
Mumbai, Sep 27: Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Supriya Sule on Friday said her fight will not end till she gives her father Sharad Pawar the party he founded and its original symbol.
The Sharad Pawar-founded NCP split in July last year after Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government. The ECI later gave the party name and 'clock' symbol to the faction led by the deputy chief minister, while Sharad Pawar's faction was christened NCP (SP) with 'man blowing tutari' as its symbol.
Addressing a Maha Vikas Aghadi rally in Anushakti Nagar in north east Mumbai, Sule said, "My fight will not end until I give Pawar saheb the party he created and his symbol."
She also took a swipe at the ruling alliance by saying "what happened to those who had an allergy to Nawab Malik". Malik is the sitting MLA from Anushakti Nagar and has thrown his weight with the faction led by Ajit Pawar.
Malik was arrested in February 2022 by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly usurping a property in Kurla here with the help of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's sister. Malik was released on bail last year.
Expressing disappointment with Malik moving towards the ruling alliance, Sule said, "I feel sorry when I see Nawab bhai with the BJP. The same party that put you in jail, you have joined hands with them?"
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP, BJP and the Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena comprise the ruling alliance in Maharashtra.
Sule stressed the (undivided) NCP gave Malik full support when he was jailed, during his court hearings and when he was hospitalised for various ailments.
"I have seen the tears of Nawab bhai's wife and his children. Nawab bhai may have forgotten the injustice meted out to him by the BJP but I have not," the Baramati Lok Sabha MP asserted.
Sule said allegations of irregularities to the tune of Rs 100 crore were made against former state home minister and party colleague Anil Deshmukh but the FIR mentioned only Rs 1 crore.
He, however, spent seven months in jail, leaving his kin in immense distress, Sule told the gathering.
Sule also expressed gratitude to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav for supporting her when the party split and the symbol was given to the breakaway faction.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Chandrakant Handore also addressed the gathering.
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Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy questioned by Karnataka Lokayukta police in land denotification case
Bengaluru, Sep 27: JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday appeared before the Lokayukta police for questioning in connection with a land denotification case.
"He was questioned in the Gangenahalli denotification case," a Lokayukta official said.
The ruling Congress in Karnataka last week asked the Lokayukta to expedite its probe against former Chief Ministers B S Yediyurappa and Kumaraswamy, also a former CM in connection with the alleged denotification of land here.
Ministers Krishna Byre Gowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Santhosh Lad held a joint press conference on September 19 and released documents regarding the denotification of 1.11 acres of land at Gangenahalli in Kasaba hobli of Bengaluru North.
ALSO READ: Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy criticizes Cabinet decision opposing CBI probe in Karnataka
Kumaraswamy said he has nothing to do with the case and he has never done anything that is illegal while in power and during his tenure as CM.
"In connection with the Gangenahalli case, four Ministers had held a press conference against me. I had said that day too, I have nothing to do with it (case). Still they have spoken lightly for the sake of publicity," he told reporters after appearing before the Lokayukta.
"... there were reports in the media that Kumaraswamy faces danger from Lokayukta. I have done nothing that is illegal and that will cause me danger, while I was in power. This government cannot do anything to me."
Noting that as an opposition MLA he had raised several issues that had caused embarrassment to the then Congress government led by Siddaramaiah in 2015, Kumaraswamy said, this case was put against him then.
"Today it is 2024, already several times the statements have been taken for inquiry, once again today I was called, recently I heard from the media that Yediyurappa was also called. I have appeared and answered all their questions, let them conduct further inquiry, and this government is free to take any action in accordance with law," he said.
Kumaraswamy said he has not come before Lokayukta after having committed wrong or illegal.
"I have come voluntarily today and have answered all questions by officers...there is no need for me to come once again, I have responded to whatever they have asked for."
Alleging that a 'benami' named Rajashekharaiah, "who has nothing to do with the said land (that was notified)", gave a petition when Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister in 2007, seeking denotification of the land, which was acquired 30 years ago, Krishna Byre Gowda had last week alleged that Kumaraswamy had then asked officials to move the file in this regard.
He had said that the original owner of the said land had 21 heirs, who gave a general power of attorney to Kumaraswamy's mother-in-law.
Further pointing out that when Yediyurappa was the CM in 2010, and despite the then principal secretary to the urban development department K Jothiramalingam noting on the file that it was not a fit case for denotification, the former ordered denotification, Gowda had claimed.
"Subsequently after the denotification of the land in June, 2010, it was registered in the name of Kumaraswamy's brother-in-law Channappa in July that year," he had said.
The land costing several crores of rupees belonged to Bangalore Development Authority and should have been used for the poor, the Minister had said, asking: "is it not a systematic fraud."
