Pawar Jr to stay out of govt till white paper is presented

Speaking after the meeting of the party legislators that lasted for over 90 minutes,NCP chief Sharad Pawar said: “Till the time the white paper is presented before the people,Ajit Pawar will not take up government responsibilities. We will tell the Chief Minister to accept his resignation. It was decided that the resignation of other ministers should not be accepted and they should resume work from tomorrow.”

He told the media: “You might have thought that you will get some masala,Pawar versus Pawar or split within the party. But there is no such situation here.”

Sharad Pawar said that the white paper should include project-wise details. “Cost escalation should be presented project-wise with details of work in the dry-land,cost of relief and rehabilitation,” he said.

Sources said that in the end,the nephew had his way by showing the support he had among NCP MLAs.

The meeting was attended by 61 MLAs,13 independent legislators who support NCP and 26 MLCs. Two MLCs were absent and Sharad Pawar’s daughter and party MP Supriya Sule left after an hour.

Ajit Pawar was the first to address the legislators. He said he held Sharad Pawar in the highest regard and had discussed the resignation with him before making an announcement. He said there was no rift between the two and the Pawar-versus-Pawar tussle was media creation,aimed at maligning the party and family. “I am resigning for the first time,I did not know I had to consult other ministers and will keep it in mind next time. I want the truth to come out at the earliest,” he reportedly said.

The decision to resign,he said,was taken because of the systematic effort to tarnish his image and he remained firm on it. He said rather than accounting how much land had been made irrigable,the three uses of water—for agriculture,drinking and industry and power projects—had to be accounted for. He said that specific allegations were being made against NCP and there was an effort to shield the local bodies controlled by the Congress.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that the post of Dy CM would remain vacant. Ajit Pawar’s recommendation that Rajesh Tope be allotted his power portfolio and Jayant Patil finance and planning will most likely be accepted.

The state government had plunged into a crisis on Tuesday when Ajit Pawar announced his resignation following reports of large-scale corruption in irrigation projects,a department he headed for over a decade till 2010. All other NCP ministers followed suit and submitted their resignations to the state party president later that day—though many leaders did not agree with his decision,taken without consulting them.