Ajit Pawar rejoins Maharashtra Cabinet as Deputy CM

Mangalore Today/ NDTV

Mumbai,Dec 7: Armed with a clean chit in the Maharashtra irrigation scam, senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar today rejoined the state Cabinet as deputy chief minister.

Mr Pawar was sworn in at the Raj Bhavan this morning. His re-induction was boycotted by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena in protest.

The BJP says Mr Pawar should have faced the special investigation team (SIT) probing the irrigation scam and joined the Cabinet only if cleared of the charges.

 

Today, Mr Pawar hit back saying, "Anyone can file a PIL against anyone. If you say that unless the decision on a PIL comes out, the person should stay out of power, then no minister, no chief minister, even PM will be able to hold any position and work."

"The first priority of the Maharashtra government is to help people who are facing water shortage," he said.

On the protests over his re-induction, he said: "The opposition will never support us on such things."

Mr Pawar was forced to quit as deputy chief minister on September 25 over allegations of irregular deals when he was the state’s irrigation minister. A White Paper by the state government last week absolved him of wrongdoing.

Mr Pawar, 53, is the nephew of NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. His resignation had plunged the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra into a crisis with all other 19 ministers of the NCP offering to quit.

Mr Pawar was accused of arbitrarily giving away irrigation contracts worth over Rs. 20,000 crore as irrigation minister between 1999 and 2009. He was later made deputy chief minister.

Eknath Khadse, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, alleged Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan brought Mr Pawar back into the Cabinet under the NCP’s pressure.

"If he (Pawar) has guts, he should be ready for an SIT probe. If proved innocent, he can re-join the cabinet with respect," Mr Khadse said.

The Shiv Sena’s leader in the Legislative Assembly, Subhash Desai, dismissed the clean chit to Mr Pawar. "He is still not in the clear. They (government) are fooling the people. It’s an eyewash," he said.