Cracks widen as Ashok Chavan, Ajit Pawar engage in verbal slugfest

Mumbai: The deepening distrust between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, partners in the ruling coalition in the state, hit a new low on Wednesday as chief minister Ashok Chavan and power and water resources minister Ajit Pawar engaged in a no-holds-barred verbal slugfest. The incident, termed “decidedly ugly” by ministers present, came 24 hours before the government faces the budget session.

What stunned the 27 cabinet ministers present was the aggression from the normally non-combative chief minister. With coalition compulsions in mind, Chavan, who has been under attack from the NCP ministers on several occasions, had been maintaining an unruffled composure so far. But his acerbic exchange with arguably the second-most powerful NCP leader in the state indicates that he is in no mood to back off now. This might have grave repercussions on the stability of the Democratic Front government.

According to ministers present at the cabinet meeting, NCP’s ‘angry young man’ Ajit Pawar minced no words while questioning the chief minister’s style of functioning and several decisions. The crux of the matter is believed to be the hidden agenda related to land allocation for power projects.