Ajit Pawar is back in the state Cabinet. His swearing-in ceremony will take place on Friday morning. The former deputy chief minister had quit the state cabinet in September this year after allegations against him regarding corruption in irrigation projects. While announcing his resignation, he had said that he took the decision so that there could be an impartial investigation into the allegations. However, though there has been no investigation carried out, Mr Pawar will be reinstated in the Cabinet on Friday morning. He will be sworn in on Friday at 9.30 am. Mr Pawar’s inclusion comes after the Congress-NCP-led Democratic Front government brought out a whitepaper on irrigation that remained silent on allegations of corruption. Opposition parties, meanwhile, slammed the move. Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai called Ajit Pawar’s decision to join the Cabinet a “shameful act”. “This whole process of bringing out a whitepaper was a farce. When Ajit Pawar had resigned, he had claimed that he would not join before a impartial investigation. But his comeback in the state Cabinet proves that his resignation itself was a act to fool people and divert attention from allegations of corruption,” he said. In the period after Ajit Pawar stepped down, the party had not named any other NCP leader as deputy chief minister, leading to speculation that the post was being kept vacant for Ajit to reoccupy it.
