Pawar favours SC-appointed panel over JPC for probe into Adani issue

NAGPUR: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday put his weight behind the Supreme Court constituted 6-member committee, appointed by the Chief Justice of India to probe the alleged stock manipulation issue by the Adani Group, saying it would be more effective than the Joint Parliamentary Committee, (JPC) demanded by the Congress-led Opposition.

Justifying his stand, Pawar said: "It is a common sense that the JPC will have more members from the ruling party (BJP) since it has an overwhelming majority in Parliament. Hence, in terms of effect, the JPC would not be a balanced panel as against the Supreme Court appointed committee which has independent experts."

On the controversy around Veer Savarkar, he said "at this juncture, it is not a national issue".

"Moreover, late Savarkar was more science-oriented with progressive thoughts. He built a temple in which he appointed a Dalit as a priest in Ratnagiri," he said, adding Savarkar also had a scientific stance on the cow slaughter issue.

Refusing to comment on clashes that took place at Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) in Maharashtra on the occasion of Ram Navami, he said "it would not be proper to debate on the matter, and now, the priority should be to establish normalcy there".

Asked about the possibility of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha along with the Maharashtra Assembly in 2024, the former Union Minister said "there was no basis for such speculations".

On the Opposition unity, he said that all non-BJP parties held a meeting recently and are likely to meet soon to speed up a joint alliance against the ruling BJP for the next general elections.

Pawar said another meeting is being convened within the next 10 to 12 days as per the convenience of other political parties to chalk out a strategy for the 2024 elections.