Some members left the NCP as the Centre had launched an inquiry against them through the Enforcement Directorate (ED), said NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Sunday. He was addressing NCP workers at a social media meeting organised by the party. Without taking the name of his nephew Ajit Pawar who led the group of rebel MLAs to join the Shiv Sena-BJP government last month, Pawar said their claim that they wanted to be a part of the government for the cause of development was not true. ‘There were some changes in the past. Some of our members left us. They (the Ajit Pawar faction) say they went for development but this is not at all true. The Centre had launched an ED inquiry against them and they have left the NCP. Some members (from the Ajit Pawar faction) were told to join them (BJP) or they will be sent somewhere else,’ Pawar claimed. ‘However, some members were ready to face the inquiry. (Ex-home minister) Anil Deshmukh was in jail for 14 months. Even Deshmukh was asked to change his role (loyalty) but he stood firm on his decision (to not quit NCP),’ Pawar said. Speaking about the land purportedly belonging to the Akhil Bharat Sarva Seva Sangh, a Gandhian institution, that was recently taken over by the government, Sharad Pawar said, ‘Varanasi, from where the PM was elected, land that was bought to carry Gandhian things like a printing press, books meetings, workshop…but after the current government came to power they were first told to shut down the institution.’ ‘However they did not listen…then the government forcefully took control of the land and all the books kept in the institution were thrown outside near a Gandhi statue there…now the people who follow Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology… are being treated in this way. We can understand how low the government has gone to misuse its power,’ Sharad Pawar further alleged. While Ajit Pawar took charge as the deputy chief minister, eight other MLAs of NCP were sworn in as ministers in July. Sharad Pawar said the state government should pay attention to the problems being faced by common people in Maharashtra. ‘The state is facing issues such as unemployment, farmers are also suffering,’ he added. (With inputs from agencies)