In Ajit Pawar's resignation, a political crisis within and outside his party

Mumbai: Soon after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar resigned on Tuesday evening, all his 19 fellow Nationalist Congress Party ministers in the coalition state government sent resignation letters too. Unlike, Mr Pawar though, the rest of the ministers sent their letters to the NCP's Maharashtra state president, Madhukar Pichad, amid reports that a Sharad Pawar versus Ajit Pawar, uncle versus nephew, internal power struggle is playing out alongside the less secret strained NCP-Congress ties. 

NCP leaders like Praful Patel have stoutly denied this, but the ministers resigning minutes after Sharad Pawar, who heads the NCP, categorically said that there would be no more resignations after his nephew's, has fuelled the speculation. NCP leader Majeed Menon hastened to explain,"The resignation is a token to express solidarity with the tallest leader of the party in the state  Ajit Pawar who is being victimised. There is absolutely no defiance, whatever Mr Sharad Pawar has decided Maharashtra ministers will follow."

Mr Ajit Pawar sent his resignation to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday, saying he was quitting over allegations of an irrigation scam. "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," he said.

Sharad Pawar stressed that his party supported what he called his nephew's independent decision, but also sought to make clear that this will not affect ties with the Congress. He told NDTV no one else will be "permitted" to resign. The resignation of the ministers came soon after. Mr Pawar's second in command, Praful Patel, rubbished all talk about a rift between the Pawars saying, "Ajit Pawar's decision is not a drama. The decision is well thought out and the party supports him completely."
     
But there were more gaps. While both Mr Pawar and Mr Patel said Mr Ajit Pawar's was a well thought out decision they endorsed, sources close to Chief Minister Chavan of the Congress said 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 on Monday, where the latter reportedly expressed worry about an inquiry into the alleged irrigation scam. Mr Chavan who had recently announced a white paper on irrigation much to the NCP's chagrin, conveyed to Mr Pawar that in the age of RTI, facts could not be hidden, the sources said.    

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."  

The allegations Ajit Pawar referred to are said to be at the core of tension between the two partners recently. Mr Chavan declared that his government will present a 'white paper' on what the state had spent on irrigation in the last 10 years 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.

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 then sought that Ajit Pawar's term to be exempt from the inquiry.

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 Sonia 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 Maharashtra 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.