Cong-NCP rift widens; DyCM quits

Maha irrigation scam led to Ajit Pawars resignation

Faced with allegations of being a party to irregularities in irrigation projects, Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Tuesday sent his resignation to the chief minister’s office.

Within a couple of hours, 20 ministers, also from the NCP, arrived at the party’s Mumbai office, met state party chief Madhukar Pichad and offered to quit the Cabinet in solidarity with Pawar. The news of mass resignations sent Congress leaders into a tizzy, with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan rushing back to Mumbai from Pune.

Late at night, Chavan confirmed the receipt of Pawar’s resignation letter, but stated: “ I will talk to the leaders of both parties on Wednesday. Only after the meeting, I will take a decision.”

The crisis seems to have been defused for the time being, with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar asking all party ministers “to withdraw their resignations.” Pawar also said that his nephew Ajit Pawar will continue to function as party's legislature leader and that “ there was no intra-party factional fights...and there is no threat to the government both at the Centre as well as at the state here.'

Since early this month, local media has been flooded with documents pertaining to irrigation projects, hinting that contractors had allegedly siphoned off thousands of crores of rupees by inflating project cost.

Till Monday, Ajit Pawar refused to respond to allegations made by Opposition parties and India Against Corruption (IAC) activists who had raised the issue last month.

But in the afternoon, Ajit Pawar called a media conference without assigning any reason.

At the packed conference, Ajit Pawar, who held water resource portfolio between 1999-2009, said : “ I am prepared for a CBI probe. I am now a MLA and I have sent resignation letter to the chief minister. The letter then will be forwarded to the governor's office for acceptance.”

Without being overtly defensive, Ajit Pawar told the media: “I am not going to accept any ministerial post till I am cleared of all allegations...If I did not resign, people would think I am guilty and power-hungry.”

Pawar, who also held the finance and energy portfolios, justified his style of working. “It is alleged that I had approved projects without clearance of Governing Council of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC)...and that tenders were approved at inflated rates. This is all wrong. I do not like to sit on the files. In fact delaying the clearance only leads to a hike in the project cost...therefore I like to clear them (projects) as quickly as possible,” he said.

Taking a dig at its ally Congress, which has been demanding a 'white paper' on state irrigation projects, Pawar said the government, “can now bring out the 'white paper.' I am sure the government will find that NCP's popularity has soared in hinterlands because of the speedy implementation of projects.' ” He said he has recommended that the energy portfolio held by him be given to NCP minister Rajesh Tope and finance to Jayant Patil.