State BJP president Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that the recent reshuffle in the state Cabinet seems to have Ajit Pawar’s stamp as is evident in the induction of his supporters. He added that the NCP showed no intent of removing tainted ministers since they were left untouched.
Taking a dig at the NCP, Mr Fadnavis said that when NCP chief Sharad Pawar asked all NCP ministers to tender their resignations, he thought Mr Pawar wanted to kick out the tainted ministers. “However, the reshuffle has the stamp of the deputy chief minister. He has outsmarted his uncle. The tainted ministers have been left untouched.”
Mr Fadnavis further claimed that the NCP chief and his nephew are not on cordial terms, and the recent assertion by Mr Sharad Pawar that that 2014 elections would be fought under his leadership was indicative of the ongoing tussle between the two. “Resignations of 19 NCP ministers collected was much ado about nothing, as it did not spell any cleansing process that involved those facing charges of corruption, including Chhagan Bhujbal,” Mr Fadnavis said.
The Opposition has made allegations of corruption against Mr Bhujbal, Mr Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and Vijaykumar Gavit and has demanded their resignations. However, none of these ministers were dropped in the reshuffle.
Five NCP and an independent legislator were instead inducted as ministers in the Maharashtra government as part of the reshuffle. While Madhukar Pichad and Shashikant Shinde of the NCP and Dilip Sopal (independent) were inducted as Cabinet ministers, Suresh Dhas, Uday Samant and Sanjay Savkhare were sworn in as ministers of state. Among the new entrants, Mr Dhas and Mr Shinde are believed to be close to Mr Ajit Pawar.
However, the DCM has denied that any of the new entrants of the state government were selected on the basis of their closeness to him. He even claimed that he was not even aware of the new names till their swearing-in ceremony.