Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Water Resources Development Minister, Ajit Pawar, who has been in the limelight for the past few weeks, was cleared by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of all allegations in the Vidarbha Irrigation scam, according to an affidavit filed by the ACB before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on November 27.

The ACB's affidavit was filed just a day before the Maha Vikas Aghadi — comprising the Sena-NCP-Congress — formed the state government on November 28. The clean chit given by the investigating agency refers to two main allegations against Pawar, in his capacity as former water resources minister and ex-officio chairman of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) from 1999 to 2009 — dishing out arbitrary cost escalations to irrigation projects and giving contractors a mobilisation advance.