MUMBAI: At his first press meet after NCP declared Ajit Pawar as the party’s candidate for the upcoming assembly polls from Baramati, the deputy chief minister, who also holds the finance portfolio, justified the state government overruling the finance department’s objections to many proposals tabled by the government in the recent past.
Pawar brought up the issue at the MCA Lounge, Wankhede Stadium, on Friday, after announcing that film actor Sayaji Shinde would be the star campaigner for the party in the upcoming elections. Shinde was by his side when the announcement was made. Pawar underscored that the actor, who has worked in Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Gujarati, Hindi and Bhojpuri films, apart from several Marathi plays, will not contest the polls.
“The finance department has the right to suggest its opinion, just as it falls upon the cabinet to overrule it. The department sees things from its own perspective but the cabinet’s decisions are taken for the weakest and deprived sections, and the larger interest of society,” said Pawar.
Several cabinet decisions came up for censure recently, such as allotting 5.04 hectares of land near Nagpur to the Shri Mahalaxmi Jagdamba Sansthan, a trust headed by Chandrashekhar Bawankule, state BJP unit chief; and allotting 6,320 square metres of salt pan land near Wadala to the Veer Savarkar Charitable Trust as it does not fulfil the determined criteria for direct allotment of land.
“They (government departments) have done their work and the cabinet also did its work,” he said, responding to a question related to several decisions taken by the state cabinet despite strong objections raised by the state finance department.
Pawar also hovered over contesting the polls from Baramati, saying, “The seat sharing formula between the three parties is yet to be decided. If NCP gets Baramati then the words of the party’s working president will have to be implemented.”
Earlier this week, NCP working president Praful Patel had declared that Ajit Pawar would be the Baramati candidate from the party. The announcement was made to clear speculations that the NCP president may not contest the assembly polls.
Ajit Pawar also claimed that senior NCP leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar was not exiting the party. “I have spoken to him, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare. As far as I know, he has not taken any such decision,” he said.
Speculations are rife that Naik-Nimbalkar, who is the former chairman of the legislative council, is likely to join NCP (SP). They were intensified after Sharad Pawar hinted about his tour to Phaltan, from where Nimbalkar hails, was scheduled on October 14. Nimbalkar is yet to declare his decision.
Meanwhile, after joining NCP, Sayaji Shinde, who holds a deep concern for issues relating to the environment, said, “In cinema, I have played many roles of politicians and ministers and never thought of becoming a politician in my life. Whenever there was an issue related to my work for environment protection, Ajit dada always helped in resolving them.”
Shinde runs Sahyadri Devrai, a leading NGO, dedicated to the effort of replanting Devrais in the Sahyadri region. It is based on the belief that the efforts of tree plantation and conservation will eventually increase the depleted groundwater levels, and bring socio-economic growth in society.
The actor said that he has no “greed for money and power after working in around 700 movies”.
“People know me across the world but I wanted to work for environment protection which I could not do from outside. I will do so now,” he informed.
