NCP steps up pressure on Congress, Ashok Chavan

The Nationalist Congress Party scaled up its attack against ally Congress at a meeting called by chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday. The NCP has openly opposed the shifting of the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) out of the city and also has decided to oppose new modifications in Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.

The message of convening the meeting of the senior NCP leaders and minister was loud and clear: Pawar wanted Chavan to know that he mustn’t be underestimated. Senior NCP ministers in the state cabinet took up complaints against Chavan’s style of working and rising interference in the meeting. One of the senior ministers said that the CM enormously delays the movement of files of the departments held by NCP and does not take them into confidence.

While telling his party leaders to follow the ‘collision dharma’, Pawar also directed to take up the issue in the coordination committee meetings between two parties.

Chief minister Ashok Chavan had written to the central government to shift the MbPT outside the city limits. Pawar, during the meeting asked his leaders to oppose the proposal in the state cabinet, too. “He asked us to oppose it tooth and nail as the MbPT is an iconic business centre providing employment to nearly 20,000 people. When the business in the ports is on the rise across the globe, it’s difficult to understand why the CM wants it to be shifted out of the city,” a minister told DNA.

The NCP also formed a committee to tackle the issue of the proposed tightening  of CRZ norms.