Sharad Pawar urged EAM to expedite evacuation of students stranded on Ukraine-Poland border

NCP chief Sharad Pawar spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and requested him to make extra efforts to bring back Indian students stranded along the UkrainePoland border at the earliest a party spokesperson said on MondayMaharashtra NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase also said that Russia and Ukraine were engaged in an intense war and thousands of Indian students were stranded along the UkrainePoland borderPawar has spoken to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar He has requested the Centre to make extra efforts to bring back Indian students back home at the earliest Tapase saidEarlier in the day the Centre decided to send four Union ministers to the countries neighbouring Ukraine to facilitate the smooth and safe evaluation of Indian nationalsVK Singh will coordinate the evacuation efforts in Poland Kiren Rijiju will be in Slovakia Hardeep Singh Puri in Hungary and Jyotiraditya Scindia will look after evacuation efforts from Romania and MoldovaSpeaking on the controversy over Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyaris remarks about Samarth Ramdas being the guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Tapase said the NCP would have felt happy had Koshyari read the warrior kings history before commentingTapase said Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was not even remotely related to Samarth Ramdas and charged Koshyari with making a feeble attempt to establish a relationship between the twoHe Ramdas was not the guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj It was Jijamata who was the only guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj We would have been happy had the governor read this history earlier he saidKoshyari during a programme held in Aurangabad on Sunday underlined the role of the guru teacher while citing the examples of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chandragupta MauryaMany chakravartis emperors maharajas took birth on this land But who would have asked about Chandragupta had there not been Chanakya Who would have asked about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had there not been Samarth Ramdas he had saidI am not questioning the calibre of Chandragupta and Shivaji Maharaj Like a mother who plays a key role in shaping her child Similarly the role of guru teacher has a big place in our society the governor saidSpeaking on the arrest of NCP leader and state minister Nawab Malik by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case Tapase said the former was framed in an old caseMalik is being defamed because he is a strong voice of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra It is an attempt to muzzle his voice Tapase claimedBJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had last Wednesday accused Malik of indulging in land dealings with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case accused and said its proceeds were used for terror funding in IndiaReferring to the remarks of the former chief minister Tapase said Fadnavis has used a new word terror funding There is nothing like that But this word has been used to muzzle the voice of MalikWhen asked about the Pune Police registering an FIR against former city police chief Rashmi Shukla in connection with the alleged illegal tapping of phones of select politicians between 2015 and 2019 Tapase wondered whether the erstwhile government read BJP pressured the IPS officer to snoop on politiciansMaharashtra Home Minister Dilip WalsePatil had on Saturday claimed that phones of political leaders including state Congress chief Nana Patole Bachchu Kadu former MLA Ashish Deshmukh former MP Sanjay Kakade and others were tappedThe NCP is asking how come phones were tapped when there was no permission Were the phones tapped on someones instruction Did the previous government pressurise Rashmi Shukla to tap phones he questionedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever