Ajit Pawar's 'Threat' To IPS Officer Sparks Row, 'Normal Tone', Says BJP

A video of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar "threatening" a woman IPS officer in the middle of taking action against illegal excavation triggered a political row on Friday, with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) seeking his resignation, even though members of the ruling coalition said he spoke in his "normal tone". 

In the video, Mr Pawar is seen speaking to Karmala sub-divisional police officer Anjana Krishna over the phone belonging to a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) worker regarding an alleged illegal excavation of 'murrum', which is widely used as a sub-base and filling material for road construction, in Solapur. As Ms Krishna failed to recognise his voice, he is heard threatening her with action. 

"You are threatening an IPS officer. He (Mr Pawar) is heard saying that he will not tolerate indiscipline. Then what is this? That too, to protect the thieves of his own party. Mr Pawar, where is your sense of discipline? Illegal excavation of 'murrum' means defrauding the state's treasury and you are the finance minister. Yet you did it," Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said. 

"Ajit Pawar has no moral right to remain in the government. You have turned Maharashtra into a state of thieves,"  he added. 

State ministers should be ashamed of making such calls using someone else's phone, Mr Raut said. 

NCP leader Sunil Tatkare and revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, however, defended Mr Pawar, saying he never threatened the IPS officer but spoke in his "normal tone". The NCP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with the Shiv Sena, are part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra.  

"I don't think he (Mr Pawar) threatened the officer.. I want to tell you that this is his normal tone and he talks like this only... The officer was doing her work, I do not blame her.. In a democracy, people raise their grievances and accordingly, we see 'dada' (Mr Pawar) having a conversation with the officers," NCP's Maharashtra unit president Sunil Tatkare said. 

Speaking on similar lines, minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said: "Being a public representative, an MLA or a minister, several people approach them with their grievances and we direct authorities to take suitable action.. Authorities have their side and the people have their side (version) to say.. Ajit Pawar has never supported anything illegal and has always stood against it. What has gone viral is the conversation where he tried to give justice to the people who objected to the action of the authorities." 

The two-minute video shows Mr Pawar telling Ms Krishna: ""Suno, mai deputy chief minister bol raha hu aur aapko aadesh deta hu ki vo rokwao (Listen, I am the deputy chief minister and giving you the order to stop it)." 

As Ms Krishna, a resident of Kerala who was recently posted in Maharashtra, failed to recognise his voice and asked him to call on her number, Mr Pawar said: "Mai tere upar action lunga (I will take action against you)." 

"Tujhe mujhe dekhna hai na. Tera number de do ya WhatsApp call karo. Mera chehra toh aapko samajh me aaega na (You want to see me, right? Give me your number or call me on WhatsApp. You will recognise my face, right?)," he added. "Itna aapko daring hua hai kya (how dare you)." 

The Deputy Chief Minister then made a video call to the IPS officer and purportedly asked her to stop the action.