Amid difference with ally BJP over party leader Nawab Malik and the corruption charges against him, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has made explosive allegations, adding fresh twist to Maharashtra politics.
He reportedly claimed that under the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government in 1995, irrigation project costs were intentionally inflated to generate party funds.
Pointing to a project from Marathwada, Pawar asserted that the original files are still in his possession.
"During the functioning of the Krishna Valley Development Corporation, when the file for this project came to me, the project cost was shown as Rs 330 crore," Pawar was quoted in an NDTV report.
"However, I rejected it. Upon re-evaluation and subsequent approval, it was revealed that the same project could be completed for Rs 220 crore. It emerged that Rs 100 crore had been added for party funds and Rs 10 crore for the concerned officials. If this inflated amount had not been cancelled, it would have triggered a massive financial catastrophe in the state," he said.
Pawar’s charge that Rs 100 crore was reserved for party funds and Rs 10 crore for officials’ personal gain is being interpreted as an attack on the Shiv Sena-BJP government in power between 1995 and 1999.
The statement has caused discomfort within the BJP, which had declined to fight the BMC elections with Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) until Nawab Malik, accused in corruption cases, was removed.
Ajit Pawar said that taking legal action in 1999 could have led to major political turmoil in the state, the NDTV report mentioned.
From 1995 to 1999, the BJP largely held the irrigation department, with Eknath Khadse as irrigation minister, who has now joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
Following the 1999 elections, the Congress-NCP combine assumed power and handed the irrigation portfolio to Ajit Pawar. It was during this period that the now-infamous Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam allegations emerged.
The recent statement comes after Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and his deputy Ajit Pawar, traded barbs on the last day of campaigning for the January 15 civic polls over "friendly fights" between the two ruling allies in Pune district.
Pawar ruled out "friendly fights" with the BJP in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad after Fadnavis expressed his displeasure over the NCP chief criticising the BJP during electioneering despite an understanding between the two Mahayuti allies.
Despite being a member of the ruling BJP-led dispensation, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has allied with the NCP (SP), headed by his uncle Sharad Pawar, for the January 15 elections to Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic bodies, rattling the BJP.
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