Maharashtra: Former Minister Nawab Malik attends NCP MLAs meeting, Ajit Pawar says...

Former minister Nawab Malik recently attended the meeting of NCP MLAs at Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's official bungalow Devgiri. This is the first time Malik was seen attending an NCP-Ajit Pawar meeting ever since he got out on bail on health grounds. 

A video circulating on social media showed Malik with other NCP-Ajit Pawar MLAs and MLCs at the meeting. When reporters questioned Pawar on whether Malik joined his faction of the NCP, he said, "Do you have any problem?"

While Pawar tried to sidestep the question, Malik has not yet given any clarity on which faction of the NCP he will join. A party insider told Hindustan Times that Malik was formally invited to the meeting. 

Fadnavis objects to Nawab Malik in Mahayuti

After Malik was granted bail in August last year, he attended the Legislative Assembly's winter session. Soon after Malik attended the assembly session, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis wrote to Ajit Pawar, saying it would not be right for the former minister to be a part of the Mahayuti as there are serious allegations against him.

He said that Malik was branded "traitor" and been released on bail on medical grounds. "Who to take in your party is your right. But every constituent party of the alliance has to think about whether this is harming the alliance. So, we are opposed to this (inclusion of Malik in the ruling coalition)," Fadnavis said in his letter. 

After Fadnavis' scathing letter to Pawar, Nawab Malik was inactive in state politics for a long time. He was also not seen campaigning for the recently conducted Lok Sabha polls. 

Why is Nawab Malik a controversial figure? 

In January this year, the Supreme Court extended Malik's interim bail by 6 months in a money laundering case. In July 2023, the former Maharashtra minister moved the top court against Bombay High Court's order denying him bail on medical grounds in the case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). 

He was granted bail by the top court in August 2023 on health grounds, months after the Ajit Pawar-led NCP joined hands with the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The central agency arrested Nawab Malik in February 2022 in a case linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his associates. 

The ED has accused Malik of having financial links with Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parkar, owning properties linked to the fugitive gangster and facilitating a money laundering racket. The ED's case against Malik stems from an FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Dawood Ibrahim, a designated global terrorist and a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, and his associates under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.