Mumbai: Close on the heels of his uncle and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar abrupt cancellation of plans to meet Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Friday afternoon, NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar kept the political pot boiling by suddenly tendering his resignation as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA). Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade accepted his resignation.
Pawar’s sudden move raised eyebrows in political circle. Bagade clarified that Pawar’s resignation was accepted at 5.40 pm today. He was in contact with Bagade since last two days. However, Bagade refused to disclose the reason of Pawar’s resignation. He said, he has informed NCP state president Jayant Patil about resignation of Pawar.
Pawar’s name has surfaced in the Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) bank scam as its prime accused. His uncle and NCP president Sharad Pawar is also one of the accused in MSC bank scam. However, senior Pawar has clarified that he was never been director of any cooperative bank. It has been speculated that as Pawar senior was involved in MSC bank scan, Ajit has tendered his resignation on moral ground to stand behind his uncle.
This is not for the first time, he has resigned. He had resigned on September 25, 2012 when his name was involved in Rs 70,000 irrigation scam. He was then the deputy chief minister at that time. Later, he joined the Congress government led by then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and again withdrew support of Chavan government barely a month before the 2014 assembly polls.
Another speculation rife is that senior Pawar is promoting Rohit Pawar, his grandson and son of Rajendra Appasaheb Pawar, instead of Parth Ajit Pawar. It was claimed that Ajit was upset with senior Pawar over Rohit issue. Ajit was also upset as senior Pawar did not supported Parth in Maval Lok Sabha polls as a result he lost the polls. The speculation that Ajit will join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems impossible as BJP has opened battle against Ajit over Bank scam.
