With municipal elections approaching in Maharashtra, tensions within the ruling Mahayuti alliance have come into the open. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have publicly sparred, particularly in the context of the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation polls.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has directly criticised the BJP, prompting counter-attacks from BJP ministers. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also weighed in, first taunting Pawar and later criticising him openly. Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule warned that the alleged Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam linked to Pawar is still pending before the courts.
Pawar Cites 25-Year-Old Irrigation Project File
Responding to the criticism, Ajit Pawar raised fresh allegations against the BJP by referring to a 25-year-old file related to the Purandar Upsa Irrigation Scheme in Pune district.
Pawar said that in 1999, after the Congress-NCP government came to power in Maharashtra, he was assigned charge of the Water Resources Department. During that period, the file concerning the Purandar Upsa irrigation project came before him.
“When I examined the file, the project cost was shown as Rs 310 crore,” Pawar said, adding that officials later informed him that the cost had been increased during the tenure of the previous government.
Allegations Against Ex-Shiv Sena–BJP Government
Pawar stated that the earlier government, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, which ruled Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999, was responsible for revising the project cost.
According to Pawar, an official told him that the actual cost of the project was Rs 200 crore. “Later, the official said that Rs 100 crore was demanded as party funds, and we officials added another Rs 10 crore, taking the total cost to Rs 310 crore,” he alleged.
Pawar claimed that he still possesses the file. “If that file had been removed, there would have been an uproar,” he said, recounting the incident during the election campaign and triggering political reactions.
BJP Reaction Awaited
It is notable that the late BJP leader Mahadevrao Shivankar was the Water Resources Minister during the Shiv Sena–BJP government in 1999. The alleged incident, therefore, pertains to his ministerial tenure.
With Pawar’s allegations resurfacing amid the civic poll campaign, attention has now turned to how the BJP will respond to the claims.
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