Mumbai
Mirror: Mumbai: Thursday, 02 October 2014.
NCP leader
Ajit Pawar said on Wednesday that he was making use of the Right to Information
(RTI) Act to scrutinise a large number of files that former chief minister
Prithviraj Chavan had cleared in just 15 days.
Pawar, who
was Chavan's deputy in the Congress-NCP government, said that he had already
filed RTI queries over the files from the urban development department (UDD).
"Files
stuck for a long time were suddenly cleared in the past 15 days. What suddenly
happened?" he said. "As an ordinary citizen, I have sought
information about the decisions taken in the urban development
department."
The
President's rule was declared in Maharashtra last week after the NCP announced
that it was ending its 15-year-old alliance with the Congress over a seat-sharing
row. The move reduced the Congress to a minority in the state assembly,
following which Chavan resigned as the chief minister.
Ruling out a
post-election pact with the Congress, Pawar said that the NCP would win more
than 145 seats out of the total 288. The state goes to polls on October 15.
The Sharad
Pawar-led NCP has asked its leader Rajendra Yadav to withdraw from the south
Karad constituency and instead support Congress rebel Vilaskaka Patil Undalkar,
who is contesting against Chavan.
Speaking at
an event of Mantralaya and Council Hall Reporters' Association, Ajit Pawar
slammed Chavan's leadership. The criticism came a few days after Chavan said
that the "law will catch up with him (Pawar)" in connection with the
alleged Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam.
Pawar, who
had previously served as the irrigation minister, could face a probe by the
state anti-corruption bureau in the case.
Pawar,
however, said that he was not involved in any wrongdoing. "All the files
which were brought to me by bureaucrats were first cleared by an officer of the
rank of secretary," he said. On whether he would campaign against Chavan,
Pawar said he would visit Karad if Undalkar called him for electioneering.
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