Outgoing deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will remain Nationalist Congress Party’s leader in the state legislative party. With the party not showing any signs of appointing a DCM to replace Mr Pawar, the state will see Mr Pawar dominating the House, but in a different role.
The Congress has also maintained that Mr Pawar’s decision to quit his post as DCM won’t affect the performance or stability of the Democratic Front government.
“Even though Ajit Pawar won’t be part of the state government, he will continue to provide his guidance,” MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre said.
Independent MLAs supporting NCP are, however, upset with Mr Pawar’s decision. “Now the government will be like a ship without a rudder,” said one of the MLAs, who did not wish to be named.
While the Opposition, mainly Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS, has chosen to stay mum over the issue, RPI said that the DCM’s resignation would help ensure a fair investigation into the entire irrigation scam.
“Nobody should be spared…there should be a deep probe into the scam,” he said.
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Pak to probe huge media delegation
Shafqat Ali
Islamabad, Sept. 28
Pakistani authorities are internally investigating how a large contingent of journalists from India accompanied external affairs minister S.M. Krishna for his three-day trip to Pakistan earlier this month.
“Some of the media team members were linked with Indian intelligence apparatus. The investigation is just for the information purposes and will not be made public,” a government official said.
Interior ministry sources said the authorities were surprised over the visit of sixty Indian journalists with S.M. Krishna to Islamabad and Lahore.
Other sources said Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik had given nod to Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to grant visas to the Indian media team.
Analysts had welcomed Mr Krishna’s visit and termed it a good omen for maintaining peaceful atmosphere of the region.
After Mr Krishna’s visit, Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit is also expected in the near future. During Mr Krishna’s visit to Pakistan, the governments of both countries decided to issue visa facilities to each others’ traders.
This gesture has been highly welcomed and appreciated by the business communities of both the country.
It was also settled in the visit that the people of both the counties will enjoy the facility of eight types of visas.
People over 65 and under 12 will be exempted from producing police clearance certificate for obtaining visas.