A week after the government whitepaper on irrigation gave Ajit Pawar a clean chit, the senior NCP leader was on Friday sworn in as the Maharashtra deputy chief minister. Mr Pawar, the nephew of NCP president and Union minister Sharad Pawar, was sworn in at Raj Bhavan.
Governor K. Sankaranarayanan administered the oath of office to Mr Pawar in the presence of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. The Opposition leaders, who have denounced the move, kept away from the swearing-in ceremony.
Mr Pawar has once again become the deputy chief minister but without any portfolio. This move is observed to be so that the DCM can still take a moral high ground and the Opposition cannot target him in the Assembly.
BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who is the Opposition leader in the state Assembly, said that they would not allow the forthcoming Assembly session function if the DCM attended. “We won’t let the state Assembly function, we want an independent investigation into the irrigation scam. The whitepaper was just an excuse to bring Ajit Pawar back into the Cabinet,” said Mr Khadse.
Mr Khadse further said that an independent agency or a SIT should be formed to look into the irrigation scam.