Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: FDA minister Narhari Zirwal of NCP found himself at the centre of a fresh controversy on Thursday after a video showing him with a transgender person in a bedroom went viral. The video shows Zirwal asleep and the trans person sitting next to him. Another clip shows the person lying on the bed with Zirwal in the room.Ravi Yadav, claiming to be the brother of Pavan Yadav who’s allegedly in the video, told a TV channel, “She’s recorded videos and taken photos with powerful people. She blackmails and extorts them. She also wanted powerful positions like an MLC or a position on the transgender board. She was blackmailing me too.” Congress and activist Anjali Damania demanded Zirwal be sacked.Mumbai: NCP politician Amol Mitkari questioned the motive behind the video and said it was a conspiracy against his party colleague Narhari Zirwal, who had been the first to demand Dy CM Sunetra Pawar should replace her late husband Ajit Pawar as chief of NCP after his death in an air crash in Jan.This is the second controversy to besiege Zirwal, a politician from the tribal-dominated Dindori district. Just two months ago, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had caught a clerk in his office accepting a bribe of Rs 35,000. At that time too, the opposition had demanded his resignation. Both controversies emerged after Ajit Pawar’s death. After the air crash, Zirwal was the first leader from the party to say Ajit Pawar’s NCP should be merged with that of his uncle Sharad Pawar.State Congress chief Harshavardhan Sakpal said, “This govt should be dismissed. The Epstein files are infamous in the world. The Fadnavis govt has such ministers.” Damania said, “This is a shameful video. The same minister was earlier connected to a bribery case. Does the party want to showcase such leadership? He should be sacked immediately.”However, Mitkari said, “Why has this 8-month-old video surfaced immediately after the assembly session? It has probably been done because the SIT in the case of rape accused astrologer Ashok Kharat will expose powerful people. This will distract from that case.” Mitkari added, “This is a pre-planned conspiracy. Zirwal was the first leader to say Sunetra Pawar should succeed her husband as NCP chief. Then the bribery case surfaced. When that seemed to go cold, this controversy has come up.”Pressure, meanwhile, is mounting on Sunetra Pawar not only from opposition but from her own party members to take some tough decisions regarding state chief of NCP women’s wing Rupali Chakankar and Zirwal. The new Zirwal controversy erupted on a day Sunetra completed one month as NCP president. Some party office-bearers from Nashik, Ahilyanagar and other units have written to Sunetra Pawar seeking Chakankar’s removal as women’s wing chief after her name cropped up in the astrologer Ashok Kharat case.
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Prerana Balkawade, chief of Nashik NCP’s women wing said, “NCP’s image is getting tarnished after Chakankar’s name got linked to the Kharat case.” (With inputs from Anurag Bende in Pune)
