Mumbai:
Leaders of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party will meet in Mumbai at 2 this afternoon to discuss next steps after the resignation of party leader Ajit Pawar as Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister; sources say partymen are expected to request Mr Pawar, who has quit over allegations of an irrigation scam, to withdraw his resignation. Mr Pawar has so far said he will not reconsider his decision. Senior leader Praful Patel is flying to Mumbai to handle the crisis.
Immediately after Mr Pawar, who is also Sharad Pawar's nephew, announced last evening that he was resigning, the NCP's 19 ministers in the state too handed resignation letters to the NCP's state president, a gesture that was described by party leaders as expressing solidarity with "the state's tallest leader." Immediately too, speculation began over why Mr Pawar had really quit - there has been talk of a power struggle between Sharad Pawar and his powerful nephew, hotly denied, but fuelled by the fact that the NCP ministers sent their resignation letters very soon after Mr Pawar senior said that no other minister would quit and that there was no threat to the NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra. The NCP has 62 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
The complicated politics being played out in Mumbai is largely seen as pressure tactics at two levels. At the state level, where ties between the two partners have been less than amicable ever since Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan of the Congress began a clean-up drive. Several NCP leaders like Mr Ajit Pawar and PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal among others face corruption charges and the latest crisis is being seen as a signal from the junior partner that the Congress and its zealous CM must back off. Mr Chavan said in a statement last night, "I have received a letter of resignation from Mr Ajit Pawar. He has also suggested some alternative arrangements about the two portfolios he held - finance and energy. After speaking to leaders of both parties, I will take a final decision."
In Delhi, the Congress - still hurting from the blow dealt by Mamata Banerjee who exited the UPA government last week - is a soft target for allies like the NCP, which can flex muscle and ask for their pound of flesh when a Cabinet reshuffle is effected soon. Sources on both sides, the Congress and the NCP, say though that matters are unlikely to reach a breakpoint of any kind. NCP sources say after all the posturing, the party's leaders in the state will fall in line with what party chief Sharad Pawar says.
The chief minister, sources say, has orders from Delhi that the crisis should not be precipitated.
Mr Ajit Pawar faces allegations that as Maharashtra's irrigation minister some years ago, he allegedly granted 32 contracts within three months, worth Rs. 13,500 crores, in the state's Vidarbha region at inflated rates in return for kickbacks. It is alleged thate he changed rules to ensure 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.
Mr Pawar denies this. He said yesterday, "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." Mr Pawar also quit his post of the state's Power Minister.
This July, the Chief Minister announced, much to the NCP's dismay, that his government would present a white paper on what the state had spent on irrigation in the last 10 years; this after the opposition alleged that Maharashtra spent over 70,000 crores in that period but added only 0.1 per cent to the area under irrigation. Mr Pawar was the state's water resources minister between 1999 and 2009.
A senior NCP leader said yesterday that Mr Pawar had put in his papers because the NCP was "tired of the whisper campaign, mainly by friends." He did not name anyone but was clearly indicating Mr Chavan.
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 Congress has already weathered an NCP crisis a few months ago, when, after the Presidential elections, Sharad Pawar complained that his party was not getting its due as an ally. That came soon after Mr Chavan announced the white paper and it was clear that the conflict in Maharashtra between the two partners lay at the heart of the sulk. The crisis blew over with the setting up of a UPA coordination committee, but the NCP's misgivings about Mr Chavan continuing as Maharashtra Chief Minister are said to remain though sources say as of now there is no demand to replace Mr Chavan.