Pune: Taking an indirect dig at the style of functioning of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, NCP chief Sharad Pawar yesterday alleged important administrative business in the state was moving at a slow pace.
Without naming Chavan, who is heading the Congress-NCP coalition, Pawar said, “Of late it seems that the hands of those in the administration are suffering from tremors resulting in delayed clearance of files in the absence of signatures of approval.”
Pawar who was speaking at a book release function, added, “I gather that for months together, important papers are kept pending in the state administration.” Striking a lighter note with reference to the pact of both the parties to fight next elections jointly, the NCP president quipped, “Since we (Congress-NCP) have to remain together, one has to keep mum.”
Earlier, Pawar, who released a book about the late Vilasrao Deshmukh, the former union minister and Maharashtra chief minister, said Deshmukh was an “efficient administrator”.
Pawar's comments are seen as a veiled criticism of Chavan, who has been accused of sluggish pace of administrative sanctions by many NCP ministers and party functionaries.