Maha crisis blows over, Ajit to go, NCP ministers to stay

Mounting a major fire-fight, the NCP boss held a series of meetings with party leaders and legislators to bring the curtains down on the dramatic developments of the last four days that began with the sudden resignation of Pawar.

"I will ask Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to accept Ajit Pawar's resignation as Deputy Chief Minister," Sharad Pawar told reporters after a meeting of NCP legislature party which had on Wednesday authorised him to take the final call on the resignation of the Deputy CM and ministers.

Notwithstanding the posturings by NCP leaders and workers, Pawar Sr, had been consistently maintaining that there was no threat to the 13-year Congress-NCP coalition in the state which was caught in the throes of a turmoil after Ajit Pawar stepped down.

Divisions had surfaced in the party with national leaders like Union Minister Praful Patel favouring acceptance of Ajit Pawar's resignation and the legislators wanting him to take it back.

Ajit Pawar, 53-year-old nephew of Sharad Pawar, had resigned on Tuesday following media reports about his alleged involvement in a Rs 20,000 crore scam when he held the irrigation portfolio between 1999 and 2009, plunging the 13-year-old Congress-NCP coalition in the state into a crisis. More