BJP leaders support Fadnavis amid tirade by ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh

    Mumbai, July 28 (PTI) Allegations raised by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh against Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis have prompted several BJP leaders to rally around him and question the timing of the tirade by the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) politician.
    Deshmukh recently claimed Fadnavis as the opposition leader had tried to pressure him to sign affidavits against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray, and even against Ajit Pawar, the Deputy CM in the erstwhile MVA government.
    A Sharad Pawar loyalist, Deshmukh also claimed a "middleman" had allegedly delivered a message from Fadnavis to him when he was the home minister.
    Fadnavis denied allegations and threatened to release several audio-visual clips of Deshmukh, who hit back claiming possession of a pen drive containing serious allegations against the senior BJP leader.
    Rallying around Fadnavis, BJP leaders questioned Deshmukh's motive for hiding the purported information and sought the cancellation of medical bail granted to him in a money laundering case.
    "Why was Deshmukh silent for so many days? He is deliberately trying to malign the image of Fadnavis and the state government," said state cabinet minister and Fadnavis' close aide Girish Mahajan when asked about the timing of the allegations.
    Deshmukh stepped down as home minister in April 2021 after the then Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused him of asking police to collect money from hotel and bar owners in the city.
    BJP MLC Parinay Fuke said Deshmukh came out on bail on medical grounds but given his tirade against Fadnavis, his bail should be revoked and he sent back to jail.
    "It is his poor attempt to distort the state government's image," Fuke said.
    Deshmukh's son Salil Deshmukh, however, claimed his father was granted bail as there was no evidence against him in the money laundering case.
    Senior BJP leader and cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil also echoed Mahajan.
    "I wonder what type of energy drink he (Deshmukh) started consuming which made him speak like this. If he had such explosive information, Deshmukh should have made it public in the past," he said.
    Newly elected MLC Sadabhau Khot wondered why Deshmukh didn't file a case when he was in power.
    "As per the Deshmukh's claims, a person met him several times on behalf of Fadnavis. If he was doing something wrong, Deshmukh should have filed a case against him. He was in power then," Khot said.
    Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat said Deshmukh is seemingly writing "new scripts".
    "He came out of jail several days ago but why is he talking like this now?" he asked.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)