Pawar's remarks about Chavan were misinterpreted: NCP

Smarting under the riposte by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to Sharad Pawar's dig at his allegedly indecisive style of functioning, NCP today said Pawar's remarks were misinterpreted.
"As Pawar speaks in English with majority of people in Delhi, his statement (in Marathi) was misinterpreted," party spokesperson Nawab Malik told reporters here.
Pawar criticised the functioning of the state government because the process of decision-making had slowed down, Malik said.
"Decision-making should be expedited. If the Chief Minister says he does not give priority to those which do not fit the norms, then he should reject (outright) such files," Malik said.

He attributed the latest transfers of IAS officers in the state to the critical remarks made by Pawar. The transfers were pending for last 4-5 months, he added.
On Chavan's statement that he would respond (to Pawar) at "an appropriate time and place", Malik said, "It is up to him (Chavan) to decide the time, after consulting an appropriate watch."

The NCP leader alleged that around 1,400 files were pending with the Chief Minister's office.
"The Chief Minister's office says they have cleared 25,000 files, while 15,000 are pending with the sub-committees and are yet to come before the state cabinet," he said.

On Tuesday, without naming anyone, Pawar had said that those in power in Maharashtra seemed to be suffering from "paralysis" when it came to clearance of files.
Chavan later said that only when the project was outside the legal framework, or where special concessions were being sought, the decisions were delayed.