With municipal elections approaching in Maharashtra, tensions inside the ruling Mahayuti alliance have come into the open. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Celebration (NCP) have publicly sparred, significantly within the context of the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Company polls.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has instantly criticised the BJP, prompting counter-attacks from BJP ministers. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis additionally weighed in, first taunting Pawar and later criticising him brazenly. Income Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule warned that the alleged Rs 70,000-crore irrigation rip-off linked to Pawar continues to be pending earlier than the courts.

Pawar Cites 25-Yr-Previous Irrigation Mission File

Responding to the criticism, Ajit Pawar raised contemporary allegations towards the BJP by referring to a 25-year-old file associated to the Purandar Upsa Irrigation Scheme in Pune district.

Pawar stated that in 1999, after the Congress-NCP authorities got here to energy in Maharashtra, he was assigned cost of the Water Assets Division. Throughout that interval, the file in regards to the Purandar Upsa irrigation mission got here earlier than him.

“After I examined the file, the mission price was proven as Rs 310 crore,” Pawar stated, including that officers later knowledgeable him that the fee had been elevated throughout the tenure of the earlier authorities.

Allegations In opposition to Ex-Shiv Sena–BJP Authorities

Pawar said that the sooner authorities, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, which dominated Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999, was liable for revising the mission price.

In response to Pawar, an official advised him that the precise price of the mission was Rs 200 crore. “Later, the official stated that Rs 100 crore was demanded as occasion funds, and we officers added one other Rs 10 crore, taking the overall price to Rs 310 crore,” he alleged.

Pawar claimed that he nonetheless possesses the file. “If that file had been eliminated, there would have been an uproar,” he stated, recounting the incident throughout the election marketing campaign and triggering political reactions.

BJP Response Awaited

It’s notable that the late BJP chief Mahadevrao Shivankar was the Water Assets Minister throughout the Shiv Sena–BJP authorities in 1999. The alleged incident, due to this fact, pertains to his ministerial tenure.

With Pawar’s allegations resurfacing amid the civic ballot marketing campaign, consideration has now turned to how the BJP will reply to the claims.