<p>The stalemate over Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's resignation ended today with NCP chief Sharad Pawar deciding to ask Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to accept it.<br /><br />"I will ask Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to accept Ajit Pawar's resignation as Deputy Chief Minister," Sharad Pawar told reporters after a meeting of the NCP legislature party here.<br /><br />He said the resignation of all other NCP ministers have been rejected and they would resume their official duties from tomorrow.<br /><br />Ajit Pawar, 53-year-old nephew of Sharad Pawar, had resigned on Tuesday following media reports about his alleged involvement in a Rs 20,000 crore scam when he held the irrigation portfolio between 1999 and 2009, plunging the 13-year-old Congress-NCP coalition in the state into a crisis.<br /><br />NCP suspected Chief Minister Chavan had leaked "damaging information" to the media though Congress rubbished the charge, saying in the age of RTI, all information can be easily obtained.<br /><br />Addressing the media, Pawar senior said the NCP legislators had demanded in the meeting that a white paper on the status of irrigation projects in the state be brought out at the earliest.<br /><br />The Chief Minister's announcement to publish a white paper on the irrigation projects had angered NCP whose ministers have been holding the irrigation portfolio ever since the coalition came into existence.<br /><br />Chavan's announcement had followed tabling of the state's Economic Survey in the Legislative Assembly which said only 0.1 per cent of additional land had been brought under irrigation during a decade despite Rs 72,000 crore having been spent.</p>
<p>The stalemate over Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's resignation ended today with NCP chief Sharad Pawar deciding to ask Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to accept it.<br /><br />"I will ask Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to accept Ajit Pawar's resignation as Deputy Chief Minister," Sharad Pawar told reporters after a meeting of the NCP legislature party here.<br /><br />He said the resignation of all other NCP ministers have been rejected and they would resume their official duties from tomorrow.<br /><br />Ajit Pawar, 53-year-old nephew of Sharad Pawar, had resigned on Tuesday following media reports about his alleged involvement in a Rs 20,000 crore scam when he held the irrigation portfolio between 1999 and 2009, plunging the 13-year-old Congress-NCP coalition in the state into a crisis.<br /><br />NCP suspected Chief Minister Chavan had leaked "damaging information" to the media though Congress rubbished the charge, saying in the age of RTI, all information can be easily obtained.<br /><br />Addressing the media, Pawar senior said the NCP legislators had demanded in the meeting that a white paper on the status of irrigation projects in the state be brought out at the earliest.<br /><br />The Chief Minister's announcement to publish a white paper on the irrigation projects had angered NCP whose ministers have been holding the irrigation portfolio ever since the coalition came into existence.<br /><br />Chavan's announcement had followed tabling of the state's Economic Survey in the Legislative Assembly which said only 0.1 per cent of additional land had been brought under irrigation during a decade despite Rs 72,000 crore having been spent.</p>