Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has called Ajit Pawar arrogant and dismissed his former deputy's threat to “expose” him, saying he had done nothing wrong Last week, Ajit Pawar, who has filed an RTI application, told The Indian Express he would expose Chavan who, he alleged, had cleared files of leading builders and developers in the last two months of his tenure. “Instead of filing an RTI application,” Chavan told The Indian Express Monday, “had Ajit Pawar called me up, I would have given him all the details about the files cleared by me. I cleared 38,000 files during my tenure and they are in the public domain. There was no illegality in any of the files.” Between speeches and small chats with karyakartas on his campaign, Chavan discussed Ajit Pawar’s “arrogance”, the NCP’s “secret deal with the BJP”, and its “handover of power to Narendra Modi”. “On an average, I cleared 900 files every month. All the time they (NCP) were alleging that I was sitting on files and it was affecting the pace of development,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I did not pass any wrong file. That’s why it took time.” He added: “If I reveal the kind of files that were put up before me, Ajit Pawar would then find that his allegations have turned upside down." On the snapped alliance with the NCP, Chavan said: “At the very first meeting with Ajit Pawar, he told me point blank they should get 144 seats, or 30 more, otherwise there should be no talks. He was very arrogant.” He said the NCP was trying to mislead people by saying he was not available for seat-sharing talks. “All this is nonsense. In fact, I was always available, but Ajit Pawar sent messengers. He refused to talk any further if we were not ready to give them 144 seats,” Chavan said. Chavan said the Congress had decided to part with 10 or more seats and the signing of an agreement had appeared imminent when the NCP, at the last moment, brought up the proposal of rotating the chief minister’s post for two-and-a-half years each. “I sensed there was a ploy. They did not want a tie-up with us. They probably had a secret deal with the BJP, which became clear after the BJP announced the split with Shiv Sena. In no time, the NCP announced that it was breaking the alliance with Congress,” he said. “(Sharad) Pawar never says strongly that they would never join hands with the BJP. This speaks for itself.” Chavan said that he learnt about the Congress-NCP split from television channels. “They did not even call me and tell me about their decision,” he said. He alleged that the NCP, by withdrawing its support to the government, handed over power to Narendra Modi. “It was clear that the NCP wanted to hand over power to Modi even if it was for a short time. This again indicates the secret pact,” he said. But why would Sharad Pawar, who calls himself secular, would like to tie up with the BJP? Chavan said, “The nature of smaller parties. They want a share in power and would do anything to achieve that.” About his equation with Sharad Pawar, Chavan said: “It was excellent. But Ajit Pawar seems to be dominating the NCP show at the moment. I spoke to him before the alliance broke but not after that.” At an election rally at Shere station in his Karad South constituency, Chavan equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Hitler. “Like Hitler, Modi is ruling his party. Hitler called shots for Nazi, Modi is doing it for BJP. He has already finished their top leadership and the state leadership has lost its voice,” he said.
