Former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar played an important role in the downfall of the MVA government by choking funds in the constituencies of many Shiv Sena and Congress MLAs, state medical education minister Girish Mahajan said on Sunday.“Ajit Pawar, as finance minister, has been of great help to us as far as the fall of the MVA government is concerned and is responsible for a large group of Shiv Sena MLAs turning sides (forming a group led by Eknath Shinde and joining hands with BJP),” he said in Nashik.
Mahajan also dismissed allegations about discrimination being meted out against MLAs of the opposition. Calling the allegations baseless, the minister said no complaint has been registered in this regard with the government so far.“Forget us as we were in the opposition then. But check what you have given to the MLAs of Shiv Sena and Congress, the parties that you were sharing power with. You only disbursed funds to NCP MLAs and that led to a rebellion in your government,” the minister said,
Speaking on cabinet expansion, Mahajan said the government is functioning smoothly, contrary to what is being claimed by the opposition. “The cabinet expansion is being discussed by both — chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and will be announced soon,” he added.Earlier in the day, the BJP MLA addressed city traders as a part of the campaign to highlight the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led government over the past nine years. “We have done a lot during the nine years and are proud of it. The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government has nothing to showcase as they did nothing during their tenure,” he said in a retort to the criticism levelled by the Congress over the holding of the event.
Mahajan said that the NDA government was focussed on improving the health infrastructure. “The number of AIIMS in the country prior to 2014 was seven. It has now gone up to 23. Besides, in the state, the number of government medical colleges before 2014 was nine; currently, there are 21 such colleges in Maharashtra,” he said. He added that 15 more such colleges would be come up soon in the state.