Speculations over cold war as Pawar reviews infra projects monitored by CM’s ‘war room’

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar reviewing infrastructure projects at Mantralaya has fueled speculation of a battle with CM Eknath Shinde's 'war room'.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar reviewing key infrastructure projects at Mantralaya, a task chief minister Eknath Shinde has kept for his ‘war room’, has added fuel to the speculation that the two are locked in a battle of one-upmanship.

Mumbai, India - July 16, 2023: CM Eknath Shinde and Dy CM Ajit Pawar, before addressing to media on eve of Monsoon Assebly, at Sahayadri Guest House, which starts from tomorrow at Vidhan Bhavan, in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, July 16, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

To prevent any further dispute between Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the state government on Friday announced names of ministers who would hoist the flag in various districts on Independence Day.

The ‘war room’ with secretaries from several departments as members has been set up by Shinde to monitor the progress of infrastructure projects in the state. Last July, the CM appointed Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation chief Radheshyam Mopalwar as its director general.

Interestingly, in what is believed to be a parallel system, Pawar has launched a cell – project management unit (PMU).

On Friday, sitting in a hall next to the ‘war room’, Pawar checked the progress of 34 projects, including seven metro lines, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, bullet train, redevelopment of BDD chawls, Dharavi redevelopment, Bandra colony redevelopment, and Pune international airport. Mopalwar too was present at the meeting, a senior official from the chief minister’s office (CMO) said.

“Similar clashes were witnessed between Pawar and the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray soon after the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government was formed in June 2022. Pawar would hold review meetings separately for departments after or before they were chaired by Thackeray. After it was highlighted by the media, Pawar stopped the practice. But he is doing it again, possibly to gain control over the state administration and to take credit for the project,” the CMO official, who refused to be named, said.

Opposition parties have slammed the ruling alliance, calling the development a cold war between the CM and his deputy.

Leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar said, “There has been a cold war between the two. Pawar as the finance minister has nothing to do with the projects handled by the ‘war room’.”

Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale, however, refuted Wadettiwar’s claim. “There is a good rapport between the CM and the two deputy chief ministers. They have been doing a great work for the development of Maharashtra.”

An official from Pawar’s office argued that PMU is a separate cell to take stock of the projects in the constituencies held by NCP and it has nothing to do with the ‘war room’. “Pawar will chair a review meeting every 15 days. Friday’s meeting was not held in the ‘war room’, but in a hall next to it.”

Meanwhile, the government issued a notification listing names of ministers and the districts where they would be hoisting the flag. As per the protocol, this privilege remains with the district’s guardian minister. However, following the inclusion of Pawar faction in the government, there has been disagreement between the three ruling partners over allocation of guardian ministership. Contentious districts have not been given to the interested ministers while in the case of Pune, Governor Ramesh Bais will hoist the flag, the notification said and added that in six districts, the respective collector will do the honours.