Ajit Pawar resigns as MLA, keeps uncle in dark

Mumbai: In a development that is bound to create ripples in Maharashtra politics, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Friday resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). While Speaker Haribhau Bagade accepted Mr Pawar’s resignation, the reasons behind his resignation were yet to be ascertained.

Moreover, Ajit remained incommunicado for the whole day, deepening the mystery behind his sudden decision to quit as a MLA.

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, too, claimed that his nephew kept him in the dark over his decision, as he did not speak to him before or after resigning as a member of the Assembly.

Addressing a press conference in Pune, the embattled NCP chief claimed to have spoken to Mr Pawar’s son, who had told him that the former deputy chief minister was upset over his uncle name appearing in the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank scam.

“While coming to Pune from Mumbai, I came to know that he had submitted his resignation. I tried to call him but couldn’t contact him,” the former Union minister said.

“The family members of Ajit (Pawar) have told me that he had been disturbed ever since my name propped up in the MSCB case. He was disturbed as I have never been a member of a Cooperative bank,” he added.

However, the press conference took a bizarre turn after the NCP chief claimed that Ajit had requested his son to pursue farming and not politics due to the falling standard of politics.

Sources said that Ajit Pawar had been told to stay put in Pune, which has been battered by severe floods. NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad claimed that the NCP chief had called Ajit and told him to remain in Pune even as other senior NCP leaders gathered in Mumbai to show solidarity with the senior Pawar, who had announced that he would be visiting the ED office.

The sudden developments in the evening sparked off a number of speculations about the NCP. It was being said that Ajit had been upset ever since the party did not come out to support him after his name cropped up in the MSCB scam.

Another theory that was doing round stated the Ajit had been disturbed by reports of Baramati Assembly seat going to NCP chief’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar.

Playing the “family patriarch” card, NCP chief told reporters that he would be speaking to his nephew, and added his would be the final word on the matter.