Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday toughened his stance, ruling out the possibility of Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh’s resignation and dismissing the entire conspiracy as an attempt to divert attention from the real issue of planting explosives near Mukesh Ambani’s residence.

Though the other ally, the Congress, was guarded in its response, arguing that chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will take the final decision in the light of clarifications by Deshmukh and the NCP chief, Pawar shed the ambiguity he demonstrated on Sunday and firmly said that “question doesn’t arise,” about the home minister’s resignation.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut also showed aggressive intent saying: “If somebody is conspiring to get President’s rule imposed in Maharashtra, let me warn them that they will get charred in this political fire.”

Pawar said at a news conference in Delhi: “Anil Deshmukh was hospitalised on February 5 due to Covid and was discharged on February 15. He was advised home quarantine till February 27 and he stayed in his Nagpur home. The former Mumbai police commissioner (Param Bir Singh) said in his letter the meeting (in which he allegedly instructed the police officer to collect Rs 100 crore per month) took place in mid-February. I have the hospital’s documents showing Deshmukh was not in Mumbai at that time.”

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya created a flutter in the middle of Pawar’s news conference by tweeting a video of Deshmukh’s media interaction on February 15, saying this is how lies fall flat.

Though Pawar could not effectively handle this bolt from the blue, Deshmukh issued a video statement saying: “I was discharged from the hospital on February 15. Mediapersons were waiting at the hospital to talk to me. I sat there as I felt weak and answered their questions. Then I left for home.”

Pawar emphasised that the crux of the matter was who planted explosives in the jeep near Ambani’s residence and how was Hiren (the owner of the vehicle) murdered. He also referred to the investigation by the Mumbai ATS which was looking into other aspects like some people seen getting down from that vehicle and fleeing in an Innova car. “The vague allegation against the home minister was made only to divert attention from the ATS investigation,” he added.

Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has been hyperactive in the case, gave a different argument, saying that the meeting in question when the Rs 100-crore instruction was delivered happened in February-end. Though he initially tweeted about Deshmukh’s news conference on February 15, he soon followed up with another tweet saying: “It seems Sharad Pawar ji is not briefed properly on Parambir Singh letter. In this letter only, the SMS evidence (texts between Param Bir Singh and fellow officers) shows that the meeting date was mentioned as end of February. Now who is diverting issue?”

The letter, however, mentions mid-February.

Congress in-charge of Maharashtra, H.K. Patil, said in a statement that he discussed the issues with senior leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan and asked them to meet the chief minister. Referring to the clarifications given by Pawar on Sunday, which said even resignation of the home minister was possible, Patil said the core group of the ruling coalition will meet and deliberate on the issue. While the Congress is clearly moving cautiously, some leaders privately admitted this issue could take nasty turns as Singh had moved the Supreme Court in this case and hence there was no need to rule out the resignation of the home minister.

Singh on Monday filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking quashing of his transfer to the home guard department and also demanded a CBI inquiry into the “corrupt malpractices” of Deshmukh. Fearing destruction of evidence, Singh repeated the charges he made against Deshmukh in the letter to the chief minister and also accused him of interfering in police investigations. He said in his petition that the home minister was pressurising him to implicate BJP leaders in the suicide case of Lok Sabha member Mohan Delkar.