Ajit Pawar ruffles Congress feathers

At a time when relation between the Congress and the NCP is not at its best, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has come out with a statement showing his file-clearing ability, a move that is likely to worsen the rift.  

The note comes at a time when there have been complaints — some made with vested interests, some genuine — that chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is slow in taking decisions and that there are hundreds of pending files.    

As per a note from the deputy chief minister's (DCM) office, from November 2010 to October 2011, he has only 9 files pending, having cleared some 2,756 files.

A few would believe that the note comes at a time when there have been persistent murmurs about Chavan's style of working.  
The CM insists on going by the rule book before clearing various files or projects, and legislators and others such as builders, used to having their files cleared on a priority basis, are fretting, saying the CM is tardy in clearing files. Moreover, relations between the NCP and the Congress, and Pawar (NCP) and Chavan (Congress) in particular, have been strained.

With the state readying for the local elections across the state, the latest note is likely to widen the rift between Chavan and Pawar, and the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.