MUMBAI: In a surprise development senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar has tendered resignation from his membership of the lower house of the state assembly. Speaker of the house Haribhau Bagade has confirmed that Pawar has resigned and he has accepted the resignation.
“I received a call from Ajit Pawar that he wanted to resign as the member of the house. Though he didn’t give any reason, I accepted his request and accepted his resignation,” Bagade told journalists at Aurangabad.
Ajit Pawar’s name had cropped up in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSC Bank) scam worth Rs 25,000 crore along with his uncle Sharad Pawar and over 70 other leaders. While Ajit was on the director board of the bank, Sharad Pawar kept saying that he was neither a director or even a member of the bank. Senior Pawar didn’t give any clarification on charges against Ajit. This might be the background of his sudden decision to resign from his post. A few years back he had resigned from the post of deputy chief minister of the state, in a move to challenge his uncle. Political circles are abuzz with possibility of a similar coup ahead of assembly elections in the state.