Sharad Pawar shows Ajit who is the real 'dada'

NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday accepted deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s resignation and proved he was the boss when it came to matters of running the coalition government in the state. He has asked CM Prithviraj Chavan to accept the resignation.  Ajit, however, is not going to lie low. He has pledged to take the battle against Chavan on the streets. 

“The party has accepted Ajit’s resignation. Till his name is cleared in connection with charges levelled against him in the irrigation sector, he will not take any responsibility in the state government,” Pawar said after the NCP legislature meeting in Mumbai on Friday. The quartet of Pawar, Ajit, Supriya Sule and Praful Patel were key members at the meeting.

Sources said junior Pawar, known as dada, and senior Pawar, who is addressed as saheb, held on to their respective turf at the meeting.

Ajit refused to take back his resignation despite pressure from a section of the party. He minced no words and blamed the functioning of the government under Chavan for his resignation.

“Despite my consent and attempts to get the white paper on irrigation, it had been stalled. There was a systematic campaign to tarnish my image,” Ajit said at the meeting.

The NCP chief, who arrived in Mumbai from Delhi on Friday morning, said the government should expedite the process of publishing the white paper on irrigation. He also asked his ministers to get back to work at Mantralaya from Saturday.

“Ajit’s speech was very hard-hitting and passionate,” said an NCP leader.  Party MLAs were armed with documents to prove they were being ill-treated by Chavan. However, Pawar urged them not to rake up issues related to the Congress or the CM. “If there are any issues, I will look into them,” he said.

Throughout the meeting, Pawar ensured that NCP workers did not engage in Congress bashing. He pointed out that there were larger challenges before the country which needed to be tackled first.

In a veiled attack against Ajit’s behaviour, Pawar said, “In politics, you have to face difficult situations and criticism. In the past, I was victim of such malicious campaigns. They threatened to provide truckloads of documents against me, but not a single charge could be proved.” Pawar senior indicated that his nephew should have patience and take the criticism in his stride.