BJP leaders support Fadnavis amid tirade by ex-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh

Allegations by Anil Deshmukh against Devendra Fadnavis prompt BJP leaders to question NCP politician's timing and motives.

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.

Mr. Deshmukh recently claimed that Mr. Fadnavis, as the opposition leader, had tried to pressure him to sign affidavits against the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray, and even against Ajit Pawar, the Deputy CM in the erstwhile MVA government.

Mr. Deshmukh also claimed a “middleman” had allegedly delivered a message from Mr. Fadnavis to him when he was the Home Minister.

Mr. Fadnavis denied the allegations and threatened to release several audio-visual clips of Mr. Deshmukh, who hit back, claiming that he possessed a pendrive containing serious allegations against the senior BJP leader.

Rallying around Mr. Fadnavis, BJP leaders questioned Mr. 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,” State Cabinet Minister and Mr. Fadnavis’ close aide Girish Mahajan said when asked about the timing of the allegations.

Mr. 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.