Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday expressed solidarity with its leader and former union minister of civil aviation Praful Patel in the wake of Enforcement Directorate's (ED)submission to Delhi High Court that Patel is a dear friend of Deepak Talwar who is currently under arrest in the alleged money laundering case. ED had also told the court that Talwar allegedly facilitated dispersal of profit-making Air India routes to private airlines during 2008-09 using his "proximity to the minister and aviation personnel in India".
While Patel was not reachable for comment, he had denied any wrongdoing and maintained that all decisions had been collective. Rubbishing ED's submission, NCP spokesman Nawab Malik told , "Knowing someone doesn't make him a part of corruption or a conspiracy."
Referring to Prime Minister's jibe during a poll rally at Gondia where he said that "big NCP leaders" were not getting sleep these days due to ''fear'' that a person lodged currently in Delhi's Tihar jail might make shocking disclosures about them, Malik said, ''PM started a gossip and ED is spreading it,'' he noted. Malik said the entire party is with Patel and hinted that vindictive politics won't work. Other NCP leaders clarified that they were not afraid of such hollow threats.