Pawar meets Chavan to defuse tension, discuss LPG subsidy

A day after wondering how the Congress could share power with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after alleging it was a party of goons, NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday evening to diffuse tension between the alliance partners.

A day after wondering how the Congress could share power with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after alleging it was a party of goons, NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday evening to diffuse tension between the alliance partners.

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The two leaders are reported to have discussed the possibility of giving three more subsidised cooking gas cylinders to consumers. The proposal will come up for the Cabinet’s approval on Wednesday. The NCP had accused Chavan of delaying the decision and threatened a protest if the announcement is not made in a week. The CM, on the other hand, was mulling the possibility of offering the perk only to the poor.

Pawar and Chavan also discussed the ongoing spat between the Congress and NCP over allegations made against each other in the recent municipal council polls, said a senior Congress leader. The two are expected to reign in their party colleagues and ask them to stop the mudslinging.

A day earlier, Pawar had taken another dig at the Congress in Kolhapur, this time on the reports about Cabinet expansion, saying that the ally only talks about cabinet expansion without actually doing anything.

Reacting to reports on a possible Cabinet rejig, Pawar had said in Kolhapur, “The Congress often talks about Cabinet expansion, especially when assembly session comes closer.” Pawar had further stated that the Congress has not informed the NCP about the Cabinet expansion. It is not clear whether the issue was discussed during the meeting.