Speaking to the media, an angry Pawar lashed out at Ramesh and said that the action taken by the federal ministry was without application of mind and beyond understanding.

“It was known to Ramesh that I had extended support to the Lavasa project. The charges leveled against Lavasa Corporation of irregularities are false. So far 1600 apartments in the Lavasa valley project have been sold off. Because of Lavasa large scale of workers had gained employment. Prior to issuing notice to Lavasa Corporation, Ramesh should have discussed the issue with me,” Pawar said and appealed to Ramesh to stop disseminating incomplete information about the project.

Pawar also lashed out at ministers in the Maharashtra government for commenting on the project. “Several ministers in the state government have incomplete information about the Lavasa project. They should seal their mouths and not speak about the project without having complete and detailed information,” Pawar added.

In another development, the Shiv Sena – BJP alliance, which is the opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and Council, have decided, as usual to boycott the customary tea party to be hosted by state Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday evening on eve of the winter session of both the houses which begins in Nagpur on Wednesday.

Confirming the opposition boycott to Arab News, senior BJP leader Vinod Tawade said: “We do not wish to enjoy and have sip of tea and biscuits in the company of corrupt ministers. Even if former chief minister had to resign due to Adarsh housing society scam, yet there are several corrupt ministers in the state government. The leaders of the Sena and BJP had made it clear to the new chief minister Prithviraj Chavan that they would not join in the tea party along with the corrupt ministers,” Tawade said.

The opposition is in a stronger position loaded with lots of ammunition to attack a weak Congress-NCP Democratic Front government on a number of land scams including the controversial Adarsh housing scam, Lavasa project, compensation to the farmers for the losses to the crops they incurred due to recent unseasonal rains, the corruption and fudging of age by the director of Directorate of Medical and Educational Research (DMER), the arrest of large number of senior government officials on charges of corruption,

Since the names of some Sena and BJP leaders owning dummy flats also figure in the Adarsh housing scam, the opposition is in a fix how to raise questions on this issue in both the houses of the legislature. However keeping the customary tea party boycott aside, the opposition has indicated that it will adopt an aggressive approach in the Assembly and Council. According to political analysts, the winter session will be stormy and the new chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, for whom it would be the first Assembly and Council session, would find it hard to defend the government on all the issues.

Meanwhile deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has appealed to the opposition to cooperate with the government and solve the issues through discussion. “Confrontation and stalling of the houses would not be beneficial for the Opposition; rather issues can be sorted by holding talks,” he said