Ajit Pawar may have taken up Beed guardian ministership amid situation post sarpanch murder: Patil

Solapur: Maharashtra NCP (SP) president Jayant Patil on Sunday said that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar may have preferred to take up the guardian ministership of Beed district considering the prevailing situation in the aftermath of a sarpanch's murder.

Ministers in Maharashtra are given responsibility for one or more districts. As per a list released by the state government, Pawar has been allotted Beed district in addition to Pune, his home district.

Talking to reporters here, Patil said there was no point in criticising the appointment of guardian ministers, and people now have to see how they perform.

He said the situation in Beed is complicated, so Ajit Pawar may have preferred to go there.

Minister Dhananjay Munde, MLA from Parali in Beed, was the guardian minister of this central Maharashtra district in the previous government. But he has been in the eye of the storm over the brutal murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in the district. Walmik Karad, Munde's associate, has been arrested in connection with the case.

Ajit Pawar, who heads the NCP, had refused to ask Munde to resign over the controversy amid criticism from the Opposition and local BJP leaders.

When asked about Minister Chandrakant Patil being allotted Sangli district, the NCP (SP) leader said, "Let's hope he takes everyone along for the development of the district." He further claimed that there was no law and order in the state, given the developments in the past one and half months, and the police have failed to show their strength.

There is no fear of the law, and the police appear to be taking sides, Patil alleged.

On reports of Malshiras NCP (SP) MLA Uttam Jankar's plans to resign on January 23 and submit his resignation to the Election Commission in Delhi, Patil said he might have taken the step to put pressure on the poll body to conduct elections on the ballot paper.

Markadwadi village in the Malshiras constituency had demanded the use of ballot papers in polls.