Maharashtra: 4 of 5 MLAs return to Sharad Pawar fold after being ‘rescued’ from Gurgaon hotel

On Sunday, these MLAs had reached out to NCP leadership, requesting to be extricated from the hotel. Three of the MLAs, including Nitin Pawar, Anil Patil and Daroda, were brought back to Mumbai on Monday on two different flights. Zirwal was kept with NCP’s office-bearers in Delhi.

Zirwal, who is still in Delhi, said they had no inkling of the swearing-in ceremony. “We were asked to gather and were taken to Raj Bhavan and had no inkling of what was to come. After the swearing-in, we were taken to Ajit Pawar’s relatives’ house where we ate. We thought that we could go home but I was surprised when we were told that we would have to go to Delhi,” Zirwal said.

Zirwal said they had rooms on the fifth floor of a five-star hotel in Gurgaon and were constantly under scrutiny. “There were senior police officers at the premises as well as a number of young party workers. We did feel intimidated by the presence of these people in the hotel,” he said.

He further said he reached out to NCP leadership after he realised the political turmoil in the state, following Ajit Pawar’s actions. “We were told that other MLAs will also be joining us. However, no one came,” Zirwal said. He added that he did not want to be known as someone who had betrayed Sharad Pawar.

“After my parents, he is the one who has played a formative role in my life. I can’t betray him. When we realised the fiasco in Maharashtra, me and the other legislators talked and decided to head back. We called up NCP leaders who assured us that we will be extracted and we managed to leave the hotel on Sunday,” Zirwal said.

Anil Patil said it was only after NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s personal intervention that the MLAs were rescued from the hotel by local NCP cadre.

“We called up Sharad Pawar saheb who told us to have faith and that help was on the way. We were subsequently contacted by local NCP workers who asked us to come to a particular point at the hotel from where they managed to take us out,” he said.

Sonia Duhan, the national president of the NCP student wing, who was with the MLAs when they were brought back, said the detention of the MLAs in the hotel was akin to political kidnapping. “It was nothing but political kidnapping. There were 100 to 150 security personnel and police for these MLAs. What was the reason behind deploying so many police personnel for guarding these MLAs?” Duhan asked.