Malaise growing in ailing govt, rift worsening in Shinde-Ajit factions: Opposition on Ajit’s dash to Delhi
On the other hand, Independent MLA Ravi Rana, who is close to BJP, said Ajit Pawar also met Sharad Pawar yesterday in a bid to convince him to join hands with BJP, and has likely succeeded to a large extent.
Ajit Pawar, who had been ailing with dengue for several days, rushed to meet Amit Shah
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A day after an ‘ailing’ Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, Sena (UBT) and the state Congress unit said the impromptu meeting between the two leaders indicates that something was brewing. The Opposition also said that all has not been well within the Shinde-Fadnavis government with regard to in-party rivalry with Ajit-led NCP, and the malaise has aggravated further.
On the other hand, Independent MLA Ravi Rana, who is close to BJP, said Ajit Pawar also met Sharad Pawar yesterday in a bid to convince him to join hands with BJP, and has likely succeeded to a large extent.
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“It’s for the first time I have heard that an ailing man goes to meet a man who is not ailing. We usually go to meet the one who is ill. But in this case, Ajit Pawar, who was down with dengue for several days, suddenly dashed off to meet Amit Shah. Seems to be a new tradition,” Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut told this paper today.
Pointing out that all their decisions are taken at the ‘Delhi durbar’, Raut said the sudden meeting indicates that “something is cooking”. “Even the CM and Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis did not accompany him. It is possible that some decision regarding Ajit Pawar is on the cards, which is why their two senior leaders accompanied him,” Raut said. State NCP chief Sunil Tatkare and senior leader Praful Patel were also present at the meeting. The two had gone to Delhi first and Ajit Pawar followed them.
Asked about the possibility of Pawar becoming CM once the Assembly Speaker rules in his favour in the MLAs disqualification case, Raut said, “Anything can happen. But one thing is certain — the Eknath Shinde-led government will not last beyond December 31.”
The meeting raised brows among the state unit Congress too. “It indicates something fishy, and people can smell it,” said state Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe. The Congress also dismissed speculations that Ajit who had met Sharad Pawar during a family gathering in Pune Friday may have made efforts to convince senior Pawar. “We think there is zero possibility of Sharad Pawar even thinking of doing a political somersault. If it had to happen, it would have happened long ago. They are rumours,” he said.
BJP State president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, ”I don’t think the meeting was unscheduled, it had been planned in advance. When the Home Minister holds a meeting, it is always planned in advance.”
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Rana, meanwhile, said that things are happening the way he had predicted. ”I had already predicted a big blast (in the political field) during Diwali. Ajit Pawar met Sharad Pawar yesterday. I think 99 per cent, he has convinced him to join hands with BJP, and I am sure the senior Pawar will also support PM Modi. The feud between Ajit and Sharad Pawar will end, and the central government will emerge stronger,” he said.
The Pawar uncle and nephew met at Baner at a family get-together, at the residence of Prataprao Pawar, younger brother of Sharad Pawar. After that, Ajit Pawar had rushed to Delhi from Pune.
However, NCP spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare dismissed the speculations, saying, “Some political issues were pending as the Deputy CM was not well. He had tweeted that he had recovered but had been advised to rest. He said he wouldn’t meet people, but he never said he would not go for meetings or family events. He went for the family get together in Pune which shows he was in a position to travel.”
The NCP also said that at the meeting in Delhi, Pawar and Shah discussed pending political issues and the situation emerging from the Maratha reservation stir.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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