Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has come out strongly in support of tainted party colleague and former PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, reports ET.

Referring to the arrest of Bhujbal's nephew Sameer Bhujbal on February 1 by the Enforcement Directorate after the agency carried out nine raids at properties belonging to the Bhujbal family, Pawar said, "I have not seen government machinery being used like this for political vendetta ever in Maharashtra. We had a Shiv Sena government in power in 1995 too; they didn't target the opposition the way we are being targeted now."


Pawar slammed the ED and said that the agency was working at the behest of BJP MP Kiriti Somaiya. "This BJP MP tells what is going to happen and the ED follows it exactly. I have never seen for one allegation the investigating agency conducting raids thrice...I have never seen an agency follow such an extreme policy. I have not seen this in 40 years," he said.


The NCP chief said that the Bhujbal family was being targeted and the BJP government was practising "political vindictiveness"