The NCP has started blaming chief minister Prithviraj Chavan for targeting deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
Less than 24 hours after Ajit Pawar’s resignation, the NCP released a letter dated February 20, 2012 written by chief engineer of irrigation department Vijay Pandhare addressed to the CM. The copy of the letter has been given to the governor and the chief secretary of the state. In the letter, Mr Pandhare has extolled the CM as a true leader who can weed out corruption, especially in the irrigation department.
The party alleged that Mr Pandhare, who had written a letter to the governor and CM alleging irregularities and corruption in irrigation projects, is actually a Congressman and that the campaign against Mr Pawar is the Congress’ handiwork.
In his February 20 letter, Mr Pandhare had stated that the people have many hopes from the CM. He called Mr Pawar taggya (ruffian) minister and asked the CM to end his dadagiri.
Later, in May and September this year, Mr Pandhare wrote two more letters addressed to the governor and CM making allegations of corruption in irrigation projects in the state.
While announcing his decision to resign from the state cabinet on Tuesday, Mr Pawar had mentioned the letters written by Mr Pandhare. He had said that the media carried the news targeting him based on those letters. “The media should read the letter written by Pandhare in February to understand the truth,” he had said.
Moreover, another NCP leader said that the February letter projects Mr Pandhare as a Congress sympathiser and the subsequent letters were pre-planned.
The NCP has also released a report dated July 26, 2001 by the then executive director, Tapi Irrigation Development Corporation, which categorically stated that Mr Pandhare, an executive engineer at the project, has lost his mental balance and was in the habit of finding faults and levelling false allegations.
“Political rivals with vested interest have planted stories against Mr Pawar in the media,” said a Pawar supporter.