Mumbai: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday rubbished reports that he is upset with the Eknath Shinde government over power sharing. He reiterated that the three parties have come together in Maharashtra with the only objective to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third time.
There was a strong buzz in the state political circles about Pawar’s differences with the state BJP leaders and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde. It further intensified after the NCP leader did not attend the cabinet meeting last Tuesday.
According to sources, the Ajit Pawar faction wanted the responsibility as guardian ministers in certain districts including Pune, Nashik and Raigad — strongholds of heavyweight NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare respectively.
The concept of guardian minister has been followed in Maharashtra since 2004. Each district is assigned a guardian minister, who is also the ex-officio chairperson of the District Planning Committee (DPC). The post is politically crucial as the guardian minister controls the development funds of the concerned district.
Subsequent to the cabinet meeting, chief minister Shinde reassigned guardian ministers to 12 districts. Mr. Pawar has been appointed as the guardian minister of Pune, which was earlier with BJP leader Chandrakant Patil. However, Shinde-led Shiv Sena has so far refused to give control of Nashik and Raigad to the NCP.
Pawar said the reports about his absence in the cabinet meeting due to differences with the CM had no substance. “I was unwell. I was not in the position to attend the cabinet meeting because of the health problem,” he said.
The NCP leader also denied that there was any rift between him and Mr. Bhujbal. He said, “Some reports claimed that Mr. Bhujbal and I had a fight in a meeting. After reading it, I called him and asked him when did it happen. Because no we never had any fight. I do not understand on what basis these reports are run.”
Mr. Pawar further said that his reason for joining the Shiv Sena- BJP government was to ensure Mr. Modi’s third term as the PM. “We have together because we want to make Mr. Modi PM for the third time,” he said.
