Gloves off after split, Ajit Pawar goes straight after CM Chavan

The former deputy chief minister accused the Congress of running a malicious campaign linking NCP’s decision to break away from the alliance as part of a hidden pact with the BJP.  “Some sections are deliberately running this false campaign to mislead secular voters. The party has been a victim of such smear campaigns every time there is an election,” he said.

Accusing Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan of not understanding the extent to which a disagreement between the allies should be stretched, Pawar said that previous chief ministers including (late) Vilasrao Deshmukh,  Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ashok Chavan were “more experienced with a better understanding of regional matters” and had handled such situations far better.

Interestingly, while Pawar had earlier remarked that all parties should contest polls independently, he said Friday that he had never imagined that things would actually come to such a head. He said voters might opt for a majority verdict in favour of one party on the lines of Lok Sabha polls, which would in the interest of the state as coalition compulsions had their own difficulties.

Blaming the CM for the failure of alliance talks, Pawar said, “While we had sought more seats based on the Lok Sabha outcome, we were willing to climb down on our demand for the number of seats and the seats to be swapped. But there was just no dialogue from the other end. Things just went silent the moment we offered our proposal. While state party president Manikrao Thakare contacted Thursday evening in this regard, the moment for an alliance had passed.”

Accusing Chavan for playing into the hands of the opposition on allegations of corruption in the irrigation sector in which his name was involved, Pawar said, “It is the Opposition’s job to criticise the government. But when baseless allegations are hurled, it is the duty of the leader of the government to present a fact-finding report. You do not fuel fire to these allegations by calling for a white paper, which has been used by the Opposition to target the NCP.  As state’s deputy CM and finance minister, I never opposed good proposals forwarded by Congress ministers.”

While dismissing Chavan’s charge that his own chief ministerial ambitions had put paid to efforts for hammering out an electoral alliance between the two sides, Pawar questioned the CM’s administrative skills.

“While the government succeeded in several aspects, there were unreasonable delays in execution of certain crucial projects like the completion of the sea link project in Mumbai and the trans-harbour link, setting up of an exhibition centre at Pimpri Chinchwad and the Mumbai airport project. While there was a rush of decisions in the end, the question is why the same could not be done previously. The message that the government meant business needed to be sent to the bureaucracy.”

Pawar also attacked the CM over his oft-repeated remarks that “some people in his government”  had turned against him because certain “personal interest files” had not been cleared. “Show me one such file,” Pawar said, adding that in his 25 years of public life, he never used it for any one personal work.

Indicating that the two allies would now fight it out over credit over projects implemented by the government, Pawar said NCP ministers had initiated several welfare schemes like dispute-free villages, eco-villages and Nirmal Gram, among others. He dismissed reports of rift between him and his uncle over the decision to snap ties with the Congress.

Pawar, accompanied by a huge crowd,  filed his nomination from Pune’s Baramati seat Friday and later addressed party workers.