Another Blow To Sharad Pawar

Till Tuesday afternoon, Nationalist Congress Party supremo and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar enjoyed a week-long adventures of aggressive statements. He first ruffled some feathers in opposition parties' camps in Maharashtra. His associates and garters managed to wrest some brownie points in Pune by forcing mayor to announce that the Dadoji Konddeo statue will be removed from Lal Mahal.

However, the Supreme Court came down heavily on union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for saying that the court's suggestion on free distribution of foodgrains to the poor was not binding on the government. Referring to media reports attributed to Pawar wherein he said that the court only made a suggestion Aug 12 and the government will consider it, an apex court bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma told Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran: "Tell your minister not to make any such comment."

According to court: "What we have said is an order and not a suggestion. Let him not misunderstand our order."

This comes one day after Eknath Khadse, leader of opposition in Legislative Assembly let his tongue loose, in the same fashion as Pawar had done a day before. He went on to say that Pawar is a builder's friend and opposition will try its best to expose deals in the state done at the behest of builders. Khadse's pounding of words appears creditable since Narayan Rane, Minister of Revenue in state cabinet has openly expressed doubts over Lavasa deal. A meeting in this regard is scheduled tomorrow in Mumbai.

To add woes to Pawar's kitty is ongoing scandal involving Pakistani cricket players. Barely two months after taking over as the chief of International Cricket Council, Pawar has hand full with assignments. Seasoned politician as he is, it will be very interesting how he navigates his way through this mud.

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