Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reacted to Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar’s repeated corruption allegations in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), stating that the Deputy CM did not uphold the commitment of a “friendly contest.”
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Devendra Fadnavis described a pact among the Mahayuti parties of not making personal attacks against each other, as Ajit Pawar, while being part of the ruling alliance in the state, decided to break away from the BJP and Shiv Sena for the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad local body polls and contest by allying with his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP.
Ajit Pawar, who is also the guardian minister of Pune district, said that the locals have been facing problems regarding the tanker mafia.
In the interview with ANI, he alleged that the different departments of PCMC have around Rs 4,000 crore worth of total bills pending, and multiple instances of inflated costs have been revealed, including a Rs 70 lakh road being made for Rs 7 crore, and software costs for the corporation being stretched to Rs 120 crore from the original cost of Rs 12 crore.
In response, Fadnavis told reporters in Pune, “I am someone who stands by the word I give. That is why, when it was decided that in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad we would not contest elections in alliance with the NCP. We also said that this would be a friendly contest and that we would not make any personal attacks on each other. We upheld that commitment till the very end, but Ajit Pawar did not. Why he did that, I do not know.”
Earlier, Ajit Pawar told ANI, “Since elections have started, I have done press conferences on what all wrong things have happened. Pimpri-Chinchwad was such a rich corporation, but they still had to get bonds. There are around Rs 4,000 crore worth of bills pending in different departments, and corruption is increasing. I have given those examples. A bridge worth only Rs 70 lakh was stretched to Rs 7 crore. They looked to fell trees, took Rs 7 crore there also, but not one tree was cut. Rs 12 crore worth of software was there, it was stretched till Rs 120 crore.”
When asked about a post-poll alliance with NCP, Fadnavis said that the Mahayuti has taken “opposition along”.
