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No more demands to prune ministry: Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar today said that the contentious issue of further pruning of the 55-member Democratic Front ministry in Maharashtra was a closed chapter and his party would not take up the issue any longer.

Addressing a press conference at the government guest house 'Sahaydri' after a brainstorming session with his party ministers, Pawar said the NCP was determined to ensure a stable, people-oriented and result-oriented government which would last its full term.

''My party would co-operate with the Congress fully and would work in harmony with it,'' he added.

''If we make a will to ensure smooth functioning of the government through consensus, there will be no difficulty in making this government last its five-year term,'' he added.

Pawar was among the first to criticise the jumbo ministry soon after the swearing-in and had demanded that its size be reduced. The NCP had also boycotted the first cabinet meeting as a protest against the over-sized ministry threatening the survival of the government even before it was firmly in the saddle.

''Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has done his best to reduce the number from 61 to 55 and he has also made it known that he had to bow to the pressures from within his own party and coalition partners. We do not wish to increase his strain,'' he stated.

Pawar also scotched press reports that Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had asked for files to be routed through him before going to the chief minister. ''Chief minister is the head of the government and his authority and powers should not be diluted,'' he said.

A two-day convention of the state unit of the NCP would be held in Pune on November 13 and 14 to take stock of the political situation in the state. Restructuring of party organisation and election of the state unit president would be held, he added. Bhujbal, Pawar said, had requested that he be relieved from the organisational work.

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