Supriya Sule slams BJP for ‘insulting’ Nawab Malik, says it has trapped Ajit Pawar group

Mumbai: NCP working president Supriya Sule has described the BJP as “Bhrashta Jumla Party” and accused it of “insulting” former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik and "trapping" the Ajit Pawar group.

Reacting to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s letter to Ajit Pawar opposing Malik sitting on a treasury bench seat, Sule said, “I read that letter and the way Nawab Malik has been insulted is wrong.” Speaking to PTI on Thursday, she alleged that the BJP has turned into “Bhrashta Jumla Party” and they have "trapped" the Ajit Pawar group.

Fadnavis on Thursday wrote to Ajit Pawar conveying his reservation about including Malik, an accused in an ED case, in the ruling ‘Maha Yuti’ alliance.

Out on medical bail after the ED arrested him in February 2022 in a money-laundering probe, Malik attended the winter session of the state legislature here for the first time on Thursday and was later seen in the office of Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the legislature complex. In the House, he was seen sitting in the last row, next to an MLA of the Ajit Pawar faction.

The opposition targeted the BJP, which is part of the government, pointing out that it had once dubbed Malik a "traitor" after he faced allegations of doing a land deal in Mumbai with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's aides. Malik himself has not yet made clear whether he belongs to the Ajit Pawar faction or the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.

In his letter to Ajit Pawar, who too is a deputy CM, Fadnavis said Malik has the right to attend the assembly as an MLA and added that "we (the BJP) do not harbour any personal animosity or grudge" against him.

“However, considering the kind of allegations he is facing, we are of the opinion that it would not be appropriate to induct him in the Maha Yuti,” the BJP leader said while also noting that Malik was out only on medical bail.

“We agree that it is your prerogative (to decide) who should be inducted in your party. But every constituent party (of the Maha Yuti) has to think as to whether it would harm the alliance. Hence, we are opposed to this,” Fadnavis added.