Mumbai: Even before the storm over the sensational statement by Minister for Public Works Department Ashok Chavan could die down, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar gave yet another shocker to the tripod government in Maharashtra. Amidst the frantic efforts by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to garner momentum to oppose Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Ajit Pawar claimed that the state could not pass resolution to oppose CAA.
Toeing the line taken by some non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states which have passed resolutions to oppose CAA, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra too, started taking steps to create consensus among themselves to table a resolution opposing CAA in the Assembly. Given the growing resentment over the Act across the country for over a month, and also in Mumbai since last three days, the ruling parties geared up the efforts to register the opposition to CAA. Earlier, West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab states have passed resolution to oppose the Act.
However, the efforts got a major blow from none other than Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar. Speaking with media at Pune, Pawar denied possibility of the resolution to oppose CAA being passed in the state legislature. “The states which have passed the resolutions opposing CAA are ruled by single parties. The situation in the state is different. Moreover, our Chief Minister has expressed that no one should be troubled due to CAA or NRC,” Pawar said.
This is not the first time that Ajit Pawar has given shockers to the government. Earlier, he gave clean chit to Pune police over the investigations into the Bhima Koregaon violence. It was on the backdrop of Sharad Pawar’s letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urging the later to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-probe Bhima Koregaon violence. Sharad Pawar had even said that the previous government had unlawfully arrested the intellectuals and human right activists in the name of Urban Maoism.
A senior Shiv Sena leader who did not wish to be quoted, said, “We don’t want to give rise to disputes which will create problems for the government. We are interested in running the government.” However, the leader accepted that it is very difficult to arrive at consensus on many issues.
Chief Spokesperson, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Madhav Bhandari said, “There is no denying that the coalition parties in present government have trust deficit. The ruling parties are facing problems at two levels, one is within the government and the other is within the parties.” According to Bhandari, all the parties are struggling with many issues within. It is evident every day.
