Mumbai:
Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, has sent his resignation to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over allegations of an irrigation scam. Mr Pawar belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party or NCP, headed by his uncle, Sharad Pawar, who is Union Agriculture Minister.
Sources close to Mr Chavan say he was taken aback at the "unexpected" resignation. They said the Maharashtra Chief Minister had held discussions over one and a half hours with Sharad Pawar in Delhi yesterday, where the latter reportedly expressed worry about an inquiry into the alleged irrigation scam. Mr Chavan, sources said, had conveyed to Mr Pawar that in the age of RTI, facts could not be hidden.
The NCP co-governs Maharashtra with the Congress; it is also a member of the ruling UPA coalition at the centre and Mr Pawar's resignation is likely to send an already tenuous partnership into a political tailspin. Mr Pawar said this evening, "I am just an MLA now. I won't accept any ministry or post till I am cleared of all allegations... I have not done this, why should I suffer the allegations? But if I did not resign, people will think I am guilty and did not want to give up my political posts." NCP leaders will meet in Mumbai at 7 pm today. In an indication that the rift with the Congress was set to widen even more, Mr Pawar said he would be happy to serve his party the NCP now, pointedly adding, "We are growing, so people could be jealous of the NCP's rise."
The allegations Ajit Pawar referred to are said to be at the core of tension between the two partners recently. Mr Pawar's party has been livid ever since Mr Chavan, who belongs to the Congress, declared that his government will present a 'white paper' on what the state had spent on irrigation in the last 10 years. This amidst Opposition allegations that Maharashtra spent over 70,000 crores in that period but added only 0.1% to the area under irrigation. Mr Pawar was the state's water resources minister between 1999 and 2009. The 'white paper' on irrigation is slated to be tabled in the next session of the Maharashtra Assembly. A report of the state auditor or CAG is also expected in a few months.
The Opposition has also demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged scam. The accusations Mr Pawar faces include granting about 32 contracts within three months worth Rs 13,500 crores in the state's Vidarbha region at high rates. The Opposition alleges that a change in tender processes meant that all tenders of over a crore required his signature. It has also been alleged that Mr Pawar overruled officials who tried to stop this. The Vidarbha region has come to be known for desperate and impoverished, debt-ridden farmers committing suicide. A failed monsoon this year has highlighted the problem of faulty canals that do not work throughout the region.
The BJP, in a swift reaction has said, "He should stick to his resignation. This should not be a part of pressure politics. He should face the charges and cooperate with the inquiry. The irrigation scam is a big scam. The country has a right to know where the money went."
It is not the BJP that bothers the NCP. It is the Maharashtra Chief Minister, who has been involved in a zealous clean-up drive that has left him distinctly unpopular with the partner. Mr Chavan had in July asked for a complete statement of accounts on irrigation for the last decade. The NCP had sought that Ajit Pawar's term to be exempt from the inquiry.
Mr Pawar, who said he was quitting both as Deputy CM and the state's Power Minister, said today, "I have no objection to a white paper, I have sent my resignation.... It is my own decision there should be no questions on a probe, no questions on exerting pressure."
Matters came to a head in July just after the Presidential elections, when the NCP threatened to break off ties with the Congress at the Centre - ostensibly party leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel were upset that the party as a UPA ally was not consulted on important decisions. But it was clear that the strained relationship in Maharashtra was central to the NCP's angst.
Mr Pawar wrote a note to the PM and Congress president Mrs Gandhi cataloguing his party's grievances and talked tough. Mr Patel publicly accused the Congress of misreporting facts of the dispute. The crisis blew over in the end, with the NCP abandoning its threat to quit the government after the Congress agreed to set up a coordination committee to ensure its allies were consulted and involved in important decisions.
But among the demands that the NCP is believed to have strongly made was that the Maharahstra CM be replaced. Another senior NCP leader Chaggan Bhujbal has also been in trouble over his alleged involvement in what is being called the Maharashtra Sadan scam. There has been strong speculation that Mr Chavan may be recalled to the Centre in the next Cabinet reshuffle, though the CM and his party have denied any such move.