The
New Indian Express: Mumbai: Friday, 03 October 2014.
Senior NCP
leader Ajit Pawar, who served as deputy to former Chief Minister Prithviraj
Chavan in the coalition government with the Congress, is determined to defame
and defeat his former boss. Pawar, who believes Chavan implicated him in the
multi-crore irrigation scam, has been avoiding taking the senior Congress
leader’s name.
Referring to
Chavan merely as “te” (he) and attempting to tarnish Chavan’s image as a ‘clean
administrator’, Ajit has expressed
doubts whether Chavan was involved in some of the financial transactions when
he cleared several files pertaining to his Urban Development Department (UDD)
in last two months.
“The files
that were kept aside unsigned for four years were cleared in a hurry. Did he
(Chavan) get any tonic?” Ajit asked.
This is the
first allegation of graft against Chavan.
Even, the opposition leaders have not accused him of corruption in his
four-year tenure. Pawar claimed that some officials in Chavan’s department had
told him about the file clearances. “I have filed a query under RTI to know the
details. If the NCP comes to power, we will initiate an inquiry into his act,”
Pawar said.
The NCP on
Wednesday made its candidate in Karad (South), from where Chavan is contesting
the Assembly election, withdraw his nomination and announced its support to
Chavan’s nearest rival Vilas Patil Undalkar. Ajit said that he will campaign
for Undalkar but avoided questions on whether he would target Chavan in his
campaign.
Chavan has
alleged that the NCP broke its alliance with the Congress because of Ajit’s
“monstrous ambition” to become the CM. Ajit came down heavily on Chavan for his
statement. “He was working in most powerful Prime Minister’s Office. Why did he
leave that to be a state CM?” he asked.
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