Mumbai:(Page3 News Network)-Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai this morning.Pawar had resigned from the council of ministers on September 25th following allegations that he was involved in a multi-crore irrigation scam. According to the allegations, he had arbitrarily given irrigation contracts worth over 20,000 crore rupees when he was the state irrigation minister during 1999-2009.
Pawar had said that he would remain the NCP Legislature Party leader, but would not join the government as a minister until his name was cleared of the allegations.
The decks for re-induction of Ajit Pawar were cleared following presentation of a White Paper on the irrigation sector released by the state government last week which gave him a clean chit.
However, Pawar’s re-induction has been protested by the opposition BJP. According to BJP, Pawar should face the special investigation team probing the irrigation scam and join the cabinet only if cleared of the charges.
Meanwhile, speaking to media after the swearing-in ceremony, Pawar said that the White Paper has brought out the truth and it has been proved that there was no scam.
