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Senior politician Sharad Pawar has said the Z-plus security cover provided to him earlier this week may be an arrangement to get “authentic information” about him as Maharashtra goes to assembly elections later this year.
The Narendra Modi-led government had provided ‘Z Plus’ security to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) chief Pawar on August 21.
When asked about his enhanced security, the 83-year-old politician told media in Navi Mumbai that he was not aware of the reason behind the move.
Pawar said, “A Home Ministry official told me that the government has decided to give Z plus security to three people and I am one of them. I asked who the other two are. I was told they are RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.”
“Since elections are approaching, this could be an arrangement to get authentic information (about me),” he quipped.
A team of 55 armed personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been assigned for Pawar’s Z-plus security. Official sources had earlier said a review of the threat assessment by central agencies had recommended a strong security cover for Pawar.
The classification of VIP security cover starts with the highest Z, followed by Z, Y, Y and X.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) is part of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), also comprising Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (Shiv Sena) and Congress, which had performed impressively in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 30 of the 48 seats in the state.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP had to be content with only 17 seats.
Elections for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly are likely to be held in October-November.
Maharashtra bandh withdrawn
In other news, Pawar expressed his disappointment over the Bombay High Court (HC) decision on the Maharashtra bandh called by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Saturday, August 24, over the Badlapur sexual assault case.
The Bombay High Court on August 23 said it would ask political parties and individuals to “desist” from calling for a Maharashtra bandh. Pawar said the decision was outside the ambit of the Indian Constitution.
He said, ‘Due to lack of time to appeal to the Supreme Court, I appeal to withdraw the strike.’
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