'Why is Sharad Pawar holding meetings with Maharashtra ministers?' BJP cites impropriety
Speaking to Asianet Newsable, BJP leader Ram Kadam said: "If Mr Pawar wants to conduct such meetings, then he should take charge as chief minister.
FollowWith Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray still recovering from the cervical spine surgery he underwent in November, it was but natural that the chief ministerial duties are transferred to his deputy, Ajit Pawar. Instead, it now appears that Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi chairperson Sharad Pawar is calling the shots. That's what Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Kadam claimed when he shared a video of Pawar chairing a meeting with MVA ministers.
Kadam questioned whether, in the absence of Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar had taken over the mantle of being the new acting chief minister of Maharashtra. He also sought to know in what capacity was Pawar holding the meetings with MVA ministers. Speaking to Asianet Newsable, Kadam said: "If Mr Pawar wants to conduct such meetings, then he should take charge as chief minister. Why is the chief minister not giving him the charge? These are two different points."
He further said, "We cannot ignore the fact that the Shiv Sena is nowhere in this (Maharashtra) government. Most of the important portfolios are held by the NCP and most of the files are allocated to NCP ministers. The Shiv Sena is there just for namesake. We have seen that, for the first time ever, the chief minister did not even go to his office in Mantralaya; he went there just five times and out of that three times, he returned from the lobby. And we are not talking about the period when he was unwell -- that is acceptable -- but what bout before."
"His (Uddhav) working hours, I do not think, is more than two hours. The state requires a chief minister who will work full-time; it is not a part-time job. As a result, all the development work has been stopped. Only one work is going on. That is vasooli, vasooli and vasooli (extortion)," Kadam alleged.
The MVA government in Maharashtra has often made headlines for the wrong reasons with some insiders claiming that alliance in the state was now primarily between the Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, while the third cog in the wheel -- Congress -- had been sidelined. Add to the mix certain remarks made by Congress leaders about being ignored and wanting to contest the next elections independently, all does not seem to be okay.
Thackeray, according to media reports, tried to see if he could attend the Vidhan Bhavan when the Winter session was slated from December 22-28. However, his health could not permit him to. Now with questions being raised about Uddhav's capacity to continue in office, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has his hands full. It is no secret that Ajit has had ambitions of being at the helm of affairs in the state. But with Sharad Pawar taking a keen interest in the state government's functioning, it will be interesting to see how his nephew responds to the intervention.
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