NCP okays Ajit Pawar's resignation

NCP chief Sharad Pawar brought the curtains down on the 72-hour drama that rattled the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra by asking the chief minister to accept Ajit Pawar’s resignation. He also directed the 19 other ministers who had offered to quit to return to work on Saturday.

“I have no differences with my nephew Ajit, we are a united family. So no masala on a family rift for the media,” Pawar said after the NCP legislature party meeting. Sharad Pawar also obliquely defended the huge cost escalations in irrigation projects during Ajit Pawar’s stewardship and called for a white paper on the issue as early as possible. State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre said there would not be any adverse impact on the coalition.