Chavan, Pawar spat over Lavasa notice

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The recent notice issued by the Union environment ministry to Lavasa project may start another cold war between Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Though both the leaders have been trying to project a united front in public, supporters of Mr Pawar in private blame the Maharashtra CM for the notice to Lavasa.
“There have been controversies surrounding the Lavasa project for several years. But the environment ministry never found anything objectionable. It is only after Mr Chavan took over as the CM that his good friend and Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh issued a notice to Lavasa. We feel that Mr Chavan has played a part in this,” said a state leader from the NCP.
The NCP leader also pointed out that Mr Chavan was known to be a Pawar adversary in New Delhi’s political circle. There is a feeling within the NCP that Mr Chavan would try to unsettle the NCP and Mr Pawar, without making anything obvious.
“The CM and Mr Ramesh are close friends. Both of them are among the trusted leaders of the Congress high command and have worked very closely in New Delhi. Their camaraderie was seen when the proposed nuclear power project in Jaitapur got environment clearance and the Mr Ramesh came to Mumbai to hold a joint press conference on the issue with the CM. Usually, it is the reverse and a CM of any state has to go to New Delhi to hold any such joint exercise. Therefore, it is not possible that the notice was issued to the Lavasa project with CM’s knowledge,” the NCP leader said.
Even Congress leaders in private accept that the relationship between the CM and the NCP chief is not as smooth as it is projected to be. “It is true that if the CM wanted, the Lavasa issue would have remained on the backburner as it has remained for so many years. There is a lot of goodwill between the CM and the Union environment minister,” admitted a senior Congress leader.
For the time being, the NCP does not want any open confrontation with the CM. Mr Pawar though did not hide his displeasure on the issue. “I can’t understand the notice to Lavasa. The ongoing project has already sold around 1,600 houses and there are labourers working there,” he had earlier said.
“The NCP has been using pressure tactics to go slow on Lavasa. But the Congress cannot afford to overlook the irregularities in the project. The Lavasa issue is not so easy to sweep under the carpet. The CM will have to act on it and he is aware about the difficulties any action against Lavasa could pose,” the Congress leader said.