Meet Anil Deshmukh, the Maharashtra minister at the centre of Rs 100 crore bribery charges

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh | File Image (Source: ANI)

La affaire Mumbai is getting murkier by the day. Former Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, in a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, accused state home minister Anil Deshmukh of indulging in `malpractices’ by asking inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore a month.

The letter created a flutter in Maharashtra and national politics with the state’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, state Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) boss Jayant Patil, and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, separately calling on NCP supremo, Sharad Pawar, in Delhi on March 21.

Pawar – ever the wily practitioner of realpolitik – has placed the onus squarely on chief minister Thackeray on March 21, when he said that the allegations against Deshmukh were 'serious', but questioned its timing. On March 22, Pawar again defended Deshmukh saying that allegations against him are false in nature and said there was no question of his resignation.

Julio Ribeiro, the celebrated, 91-year-old former Mumbai police commissioner, who Pawar wanted to investigate the allegation, has refused to probe such a `murky’ case.

This comes amid opposition BJP’s demand for Deshmukh’s removal and imposition of President's rule in the state.

Sources said that the controversy has become a fresh cause of friction between coalition partners NCP and Shiv Sena in the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance with several leaders wanting Deshmukh to go. Pawar is throwing his weight behind his controversial party colleague to save the government, they pointed out.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told reporters in Mumbai on March 21 that allegations against Deshmukh have dented the image of the MVA government, but on March 22, he simultaneously ruled out a resignation since the government was ready to probe the charges in any case.

A berth in all governments

So, just who is Anil Deshmukh?  A cursory look at the political career of this five-time MLA reveals that he has the uncanny knack of finding a berth in the state cabinet, irrespective of the party that comes to power in Maharashtra. The sole exception was in 2014 when the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP won the elections and assumed office, while Deshmukh was defeated in his pocket borough Katol by his nephew.

READ: Congress must take stand on Param Bir Singh's claim, says Sanjay Nirupam

Deshmukh, who hails from the Vad Vihira village near Katol in Nagpur, began his political career as chairman of the Nagpur Zilla Parishad. He was elected to the Maharashtra assembly as an independent candidate for the first time in 1995 from Katol, the constituency he represented.

After his first election as an MLA, Deshmukh supported the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government in 1995 and was made Minister of State for Education and Culture.

In 1999, he parted ways with the Shiv Sena-BJP government and joined the newly-formed Nationalist Congress Party. He won from Katol on a NCP ticket again and was made minister in the Congress-NCP government, but was soon elevated as cabinet minister in 2001 with the charge of excise and food and drugs.

Also, read: Patanjali's Coronil will not be sold in Maharashtra, says Anil Deshmukh

Deshmukh shot to limelight in October 2004 as minister of the Public Works Department (public undertakings) in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government.

It was a period when the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation was building the ambitious Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Deshmukh was the prominent face during media interactions on the pioneering project, but was dropped during the cabinet reshuffle in December 2008 in chief minister Ashok Chavan-led government before the Bandra-Worli Sea Link was inaugurated.

Vimal Mundhada replaced Deshmukh as Minister of Public Works Department, reportedly because he could not speed up projects. In October 2009, however, he made a re-entry into the cabinet as Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs.

Pawar’s unexpected choice?

Deshmukh won the Katol seat again in 2019. In an unexpected choice - reportedly at the behest of Sharad Pawar - Deshmukh was made the Home Minister in the MVA government. Since then, his propensity for loose talk has embarrassed the government on several occasions.

The man from Katol is no stranger to controversies. In April 2020, he was targeted by a retired IAS officer and Chairman of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), Anand Kulkarni, who threatened to expose the minister.

In the current case, Deshmukh has denied the allegations saying the former Commissioner of Police is trying to `save himself’. The former Commissioner of Police, Parambir Singh, has made false allegations in order to save himself as the involvement of Sachin Waze in the Mukesh Ambani and Mansukh Hiren’s case is becoming clear from the investigation carried out so far and the threads are leading to Mr. Singh, the Home Minister has claimed.

Clearly, there seems to be no end to the questionable and suspect roles of several dramatis personae in this political drama.