Won't bow down before Delhi "throne": Pawar on ED action

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said he will visit the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office on September 27 in connection with a money laundering case filed against him by the agency.

Addressing media here, Pawar also questioned the timing of the ED move, which comes days before the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Pawar said he will visit the ED office at 2 pm on September 27 to submit "whatever information" sought in connection with the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank scam.

"I will be mostly out of Mumbai for Assembly poll campaigning. The agency officials shouldn't misunderstand that I am unavailable. I will go to them and give them whatever information they want," Pawar said.

Pawar said he believes in the Constitution of India.

"Maharashtra follows the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We don't know bowing down before the Delhi takht (throne)," Pawar said.

The ED filed the money laundering case against Pawar, his nephew Ajit Pawar and 70 others in the bank scam on the directions of the Bombay High Court.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the ED registered the case based on the High Court directive.

"It would be wrong to attribute a political motive for the ED action and call it a political vendetta (by the BJP government)," Fadnavis told reporters.