Mind your Maharashtra business, Pawar responds to CM’s barb

Responding to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s statement asking whether the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) wished to be the opposition party after the 2014 polls, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the chief minister should restrict himself to affairs related to Maharashtra rather than commenting on the political situation elsewhere.

“I have not heard about Chavan being given the responsibility of looking after the party’s affairs in Gujarat. Chavan has lot of responsibilities in Maharashtra; he should stick to them. Why does he need to comment on the NCP’s stand regarding the Gujarat poll results?” Pawar said, during a meeting of  NCP ministers at Devgiri, his official bungalow at  Malabar Hill.

Pawar further said that of the nine seats his party had been allotted in Gujarat, the Congress had fielded its candidates in five of them and Congress rebels had contested in the remaining four.

“There is shortage of fodder, employment opportunities and education in drought-ridden areas; we have to focus on these regions,” he said.

A central team that had recently visited Maharashtra recommended financial assistance of Rs777 crore for drought relief.

The team’s recommendations will be taken up for discussion in a meeting of a Pawar-led committee on Tuesday.

“The state government’s proposal for drought relief will be considered and have his full support,” he said, adding that files pending before ministers should be cleared faster, indirectly hinting that the chief minister should be faster with such clearance of files.