Mumbai, January 11: In a major blow to the Sharad Pawar-led - National Congress Party, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is searching Maharashtra minister Hasan Mushrif's residence in connection with the money laundering probe revolving around sugar mills.
Mushrif had been on the radar of central agencies for quite some time. Apart from him, ED is also searching at the Pune office of Chandrakant Gaikwad, who is a close aide of NCP leader Hasan Mushrif.
Mushrif is a close aide of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar. A five-time MLA from Kagal, he had been a minister in the erstwhile Democratic Front government and the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
He is the fifth big leader of the MVA to be targeted by central agencies. The others are Anil Deshmukh (NCP), Nawab Malik (NCP), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) and Anil Parab (Shiv Sena).
The NCP and its MVA allies -- Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress -- have reacted sharply to the development. "It is politically motivated. Mushrif is beinag targeted the way earlier Deshmukh, Malik and Raut had been targeted,” NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said.Protests erupted in several places in Kagal and other parts of Kolhapur in the wake of the ED action.