Sharad Pawar’s MP Meets Pune Gangster, Claims Didn’t Know Him

Newly elected Lok Sabha member Nilesh Lanke will like the public to believe that he accepted felicitation and refreshments from an unknown individual without knowing that the person was a dreaded gangster. “I realised what had happened only the next morning,” was Lanke’s explanation after his pictures with recently released don Gajanan Marne in Pune became viral. The clarification is laced with scorn and suspense since it is difficult to accept that a MP can be stopped by any unfamiliar person anywhere along any road and that he responds to such an invite with his presence without asking any questions. Interestingly, Lanke was with the NCP of Ajit Pawar till the eve of the Lok Sabha election. He switched over to the NCP under Sharad Pawar at the last moment and was fielded promptly against Sujay Vikhe Patil, a scion of the powerful sugar baron family. The feud between Sharad Pawar and the Vikhe family is well-known. Lanke has been elected by a comfortable margin. His unplanned visit to Gajanan, known as Gaja, raises many eyebrows. Gaja leads a gang which has about two dozen serious offences registered against it. Only recently, he was in Yerawada jail. The suspense has been created since Ajit Pawar’s son Parth, too, had met Gaja last year and the resultant furore had seen Ajit disapproving this meeting. All eyes are now on what Sharad Pawar says about Lanke’s explanation.