Pune land 'scam' involving son a major embarrassment for Ajit Pawar

Mumbai: For Ajit Pawar, a one-time MP, eight-term MLA and six-time Deputy Chief Minister, the involvement of his son in an alleged land scam in his home district of Pune, has come as a major jolt — particularly in view of the fact that it took him more than a decade to absolve himself from the charges involving the Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam.

The 66-year-old Ajit Pawar, who is the NCP president and Deputy Chief Minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-headed BJP-led Maha Yuti government, is the nephew of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar. He switched sides to the NDA in June-July 2023 after rebelling against his uncle and taking control of the original party.

Ajit Pawar’s elder son, Parth Pawar, is embroiled in an alleged scam involving  40 acres of Mahar Watan land — located at Mundhwa off the prime Koregaon Park area in Pune — belonging to the government, which he and his partner Digvijay Patil of Amadea Enterprises LLP, procured for Rs 300 crore, and the stamp duty on it was waived.

According to reports, the commercial value of land could be as high as Rs 1,800 crore.  

In 2019, the 35-year-old Parth had unsuccessfully contested the Maval Lok Sabha seat from the undivided NCP.

The development comes at a time when the process of Maharashtra local bodies elections has started after a long gap, and political stakes are very high.

In fact, Ajit Pawar, the State’s Finance and Planning Minister and Pune’s Guardian Minister, is keen to launch his younger son Jay Pawar in electoral politics by making him contest the presidency of the Baramati Municipal Council. 

While Ajit Pawar tried to stay clear of the entire issue by saying that he has nothing to do with the deal, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has mounted a major offensive against him. 

When Ajit Pawar was the Deputy Chief Minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government and handled the Water Resources Department, his name was dragged in a Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam, following which the BJP mounted attacks on him, particularly Fadnavis, who is now the Chief Minister. 

As Water Resources Minister, Ajit Pawar had also served as Chairman of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation, which had cleared irrigation projects in which the irregularities were alleged.

During the 2014 and 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, the BJP made the irrigation scam a major poll issue to target the DF government and NCP leaders, including Ajit Pawar and his uncle and mentor Sharad Pawar.

In 2023, ahead of the NCP split, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged Congress and NCP were the most corrupt parties and spoke of the Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam and the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam.

The allegations come close on the heels of two controversies surrounding Ajit Pawar.

In September, he was in the news when he was seen rebuking, reprimanding and threatening a young Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Anjana Krishna V S, deposed as a Sub Divisional Police Officer in Solapur district, who was taking action in the Kurdu village in Madha tehsil on complaints of illegal extraction of ‘murrum’. 

Last week, he stirred up a controversy by questioning why farmers need everything free of cost and their continuous demand for a loan waiver. “The State government gives the crop loan at zero interest rate, still farmers demand a loan waiver. This is not a good habit at all. We wanted to get elected and come into power; therefore, we promised a farm loan waiver in the 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections. Now, farmers are demanding farm loan waiver, but this decision is not easy because it takes thousands of crores to execute it," Pawar had said.