NCP Chief Sharad Pawar Gets Income Tax Notices; Calls Them 'Love Letters'

NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Photo: Sharad Pawar/Facebook)

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, has reportedly been served notices regarding his election affidavits in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2020 by the Income Tax department on Thursday, 30 June.

This happened on the same day when Eknath Shinde took over as Maharashtra Chief Minister after toppling the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance.

Taking a swipe at the notices, Pawar called them "love letters".

In a series of tweets in Marathi, starting with this one, he said, "This device is utilised against those people who hold views different than those of the Centre. I have received such a love letter from the Income Tax department. The information that I filled in my undertaking form back in 2004, when I was gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections, is being questioned now."

NCP state chief, Mahesh Bharat Tapase, while casting his doubt over the timing said, "Is it purely coincidental or something else?"

Meanwhile Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut, is slated to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Friday, 1 July, in connection with a money laundering case.

Not The First Notice

Pawar had received similar notices in 2020, asking for "clarification and explanation" over his election affidavits.

“Yes, I have also received it (the notice). They love some people,” the 79-year-old Maratha strongman had said with a grin, speaking with media persons in Mumbai on 22 September, 2020.

Besides him, NCP leader and his daughter Supriya Sule, Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya Thackeray had also been served notices seeking clarifications on their polls affidavits filed in the previous elections.

Interestingly, even then, the notices had been issued to two top leaders from the two parties in the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) alliance.

In 2021, the Income Tax Department had raided premises connected to NCP leader and former Maharashtra CM Ajit Pawar, in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.

"There are some government guests at Ajit's home, but I'm not worried by them," Pawar had said even then.

"I have also been served a notice by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the past, but the people of Maharashtra taught them (the BJP-led union government) a lesson," he further added.

He said that the raids were an 'act of vengeance and revenge' for the same.

(With inputs from IANS.)