Ajitdada was the best CM State never had: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday led leaders cutting across party lines in paying tributes to the late Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on the first day of the Budget session of the State legislature, saying he was “the best CM the State never had”.

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde described the late NCP leader as an “elder brother” and said he, Fadnavis, and Pawar were like an “equilateral triangle,” being close to each other.

On January 28, Deputy CM Pawar and four others died in a plane crash in Pune’s Baramati town.

In a glowing tribute to Pawar in the Assembly on the first day of the legislature’s Budget session, Fadnavis said the State has lost a towering leader and administrator.

Pawar’s shocking demise has created a political vacuum that will never be filled, the CM said while hailing the NCP leader, whose party is a constituent of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi.

“Ajitdada (as Pawar was fondly called) and I share the same birthdate, but he was 11 years senior to me in age. He was my dada in the real sense,” Fadnavis noted.

He said Ajit Pawar became deputy chief minister a record six times and had the capacity to lead the state.

“Ajitdada was the best CM Maharashtra never had,” the senior BJP leader stated.

He said there is political arithmetic to various decisions, adding that destiny would have fulfilled his wish sometime.

“Ajitdada was always punctual, but this time his timing went wrong,” Fadnavis said, referring to the plane crash last month.

He said Pawar was never a politically correct person. He always acted on what he said and was a straightforward person, Fadnavis noted.

“Ajitdada was a leader who honoured the word he gave. In 2019, we decided to form a government together.

But that didn’t happen because his party’s senior leadership decided to step back. Ajitdada stood by his word, and we took the oath together.

“But he discussed with me and then went back to his original party after the court order went against us,” Fadnavis recalled, referring to the two-day Government formed by Fadnavis in alliance with Pawar before the Maha Vikas Aghadi came to power.

Fadnavis also said Ajit Pawar was the best finance minister any CM could ask for. This year, he would have presented his 12th Budget and next year, he would have broken Sheshrao Wankhede’s record of presenting 13 Budgets, he noted.

Pawar pushed through the Ladki Bahin scheme, which provides financial assistance to women, overruling the finance department’s reservations about its impact on the State exchequer, the CM said.

Fadnavis said he always mentioned that the NCP is a strategic partner, but Ajit Pawar was a close friend.

On January 27, Pawar attended the cabinet and infrastructure committee meetings and discussed why there was no gross value addition in capital expenditure. “No one would have imagined that it would be our last meeting,” Fadnavis rued.

In the council, Deputy CM Shinde said Maharashtra lost a “staunch, punctual leader and a great friend”, and the House lost a strict and disciplined member.

“Fadnavis, Pawar and I were like an equilateral triangle; we were all close to each other,” Shinde said, underlining the coordination within the state’s leadership.

He likened Pawar to a “jackfruit- thorny (tough) from outside but soft and sweet inside”.

Moving the resolution in the House to pay tributes to departed leaders, Shinde said that after becoming chief minister (in 2022), he worked closely with Pawar.

“I also worked with him during the MVA tenure and observed his studious nature and command over administration,” he said.

Pawar could quickly grasp the importance or shortcomings of a scheme and was particularly strict about cleanliness and discipline in governance, he noted.

Shinde also said that when the Ladki Bahin scheme was conceptualised during his tenure as CM, it was Pawar who framed it properly and managed the state’s finances so that the State did not face much strain.

Speaking in the Upper House, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray described Pawar as a “very close friend”.

Thackeray said when he became the CM in 2019, he was initially suspicious of Pawar, especially after the latter gave them a “shock” by taking the oath with Fadnavis.

“My entire politics was earlier against Pawar’s politics, but we came together. I realised, and till now believe, that Pawar became a very close friend to me,” he said.

Recalling the COVID-19 pandemic period, Thackeray said it was the then Deputy CM Pawar who ensured that major works continued uninterrupted.

“Pawar was punctual, trustworthy and efficient,” he added.

Referring to Pawar’s recent remarks that he had faced allegations of Rs 70,000 crore corruption from those who were now sharing power with him, Thackeray said there should be a limit to defaming a person for political reasons.

“How much and how long are we going to defame a person for political reasons? There should be some limit to it. We should have some self-regulation. How long are we going to blame a person without verifying the facts?” he asked.

Thackeray further noted that when Pawar was deputy chief minister in the MVA Government, those who were in the Opposition later welcomed him when they came to power.

“Any ordinary person would have gone into depression by facing such allegations, but Pawar sailed through it because of his efficient and pro-people work,” he said.

Bhaskar Jadhav and Sunil Prabhu (Shiv Sena-UBT) said there are doubts about the plane crash that killed Ajit Pawar.

“There is suspicion that there could be foul play. I feel Sharad Pawar stated that it was an accident and no sabotage; he was taking care that if there was a spark in Baramati, it could spread in the entire state,” Jadhav said while speaking on the condolence motion.

Dilip Walse Patil and Hassan Mushrif (NCP) became emotional while paying tribute to the NCP chief.

Nitin Raut of Congress said, “We had our differences of opinion but shared excellent personal relations.”