Jarange's Rs 500 crore audio clip: Chavan sees plot, Khaire wants impartial inquiry

An audio clip released by Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil, linked to an alleged Rs 500 crore payment, has set off a fierce political row in Maharashtra. Leaders across parties are now demanding that the recording be examined and the truth made public.

The controversy began with Jarange's allegation that Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told the BJP he had paid Rs 500 crore. Jarange made the charge at the Dussehra rally in Narayangad and later said the entire transaction was routed through Shrikant Shinde. Shinde has said plainly that he neither took nor gave Rs 500 crore. He did not reply to the charge at the Narayangad rally. At the Dussehra gathering in Mumbai, however, Shinde's Shiv Sainiks attacked Jarange sharply, and Uday Samant said he would hand Shinde the evidence of who is behind Jarange.

Jarange then called a press conference and played the clip, even as Shinde faction leaders were criticising him. The recording is very long and is said to have gone viral before it reached the media. In it, several people talk among themselves and name many senior leaders, among them Sanjay Raut and Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil. A woman is heard speaking of Rs 500 crore being given to Shinde.

The clip also carries an offensive passage about Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) leader Sushma Andhare, whose name comes up alongside Raut's. One speaker calls her very low in standing and says one should not get entangled with her, the other agrees, and some people are heard laughing. Elsewhere the speakers raise "love jihad", saying a bank employee who dropped a Muslim woman at another branch was beaten severely in Sambhajinagar, and that nobody there thought it necessary even to register a simple protest. The recording also touches on including the Maratha community in the OBC category and appears to refer to discussion at an international level. Jarange closed by asking people to think about who took the Rs 500 crore.

Navnath Ban has demanded a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the clip, and many others are also seeking an inquiry. Some, however, claim the clip was created with the help of AI. Shiv Sena leaders say Shinde has made a major contribution to securing justice for the Maratha community.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has called the clip a devious move meant to finish the leadership of both Jarange and Shinde. He wants a technical and forensic analysis. Chavan also said he suspected the BJP had offered Sushilkumar Shinde a place in the party, but that Sushilkumar Shinde has not accepted. On the Gokul election result in Kolhapur, he congratulated Satej Patil and said the Chief Minister went there to play gulal, assuming a one-sided 25-0 result, only to be rejected by the people of Kolhapur. Change in the country is inevitable, he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Chandrakant Khaire accused the BJP and the Shinde faction as well. He asked who made Jarange big and why an attempt is now being made to sideline him. In his view the Maratha community stood with Jarange because he worked for its justice and rights, and political leaders, seeing his growing influence, have begun to worry about their own future.

Khaire also wants the clip sent for forensic examination. Since the Chief Minister's name is being discussed, he said, the Chief Minister should not decide the matter himself; the government should hold an impartial inquiry and decide afterwards. If Dr Shrikant Shinde's name is being taken in connection with the alleged transaction, Khaire said, he too should be investigated. He claimed the BJP, the Shinde faction and the blessings of Union Home Minister Amit Shah are behind the whole matter.

Khaire further cited the Tiger Shop firing case, the mayor's office and the threat to blow up Amitabh Bachchan's bungalow, and made serious allegations about law and order in the state. The Rs 500 crore claim, the talk about Sushilkumar Shinde and the criticism over the Gokul result are likely to keep the state's politics heated.