Ajit Pawar to take oath as Maharashtra Deputy CM; BJP, Sena to boycott ceremony

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who had resigned as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra over the irrigation scam, will be re-inducted into the state Cabinet and take oath on Friday. Pawar will be taking oath at 9:30 am on Friday at the Governor's residence.

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Shiv Sena have decided to boycott the sweating-in ceremony. The decision to re-induct Pawar in the cabinet comes days after the White Paper on the irrigation scam in the state was tabled. The White Paper on irrigation scam had given a clean chit to the NCP leader.

After the White Paper was tabled, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had said that it gave details of all irrigation projects under the corporations. Chavan had also said that the reasons why there were cost overruns in the projects were also listed out in the White Paper on the irrigation scam, adding that the report showed the difference of opinion in irrigation potential.

The decision to re-induct Pawar in the cabinet comes days after the White Paper on the irrigation scam in the state was tabled.

According to the Chief Minister, the White Paper, which claims 28 per cent rise in irrigation potential in the last 10 years, on the scam would enable the state government to decide on the future of irrigation in Maharashtra.

Following the resignation of Pawar, an influential NCP leader, all his party ministers in Maharashtra had offered their resignations to NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The NCP chief had, however, said that no one other than Ajit Pawar needed to quit.

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