Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday made a sensational claim targeting his allies that the cost of an irrigation project in Pune was inflated to raise “party funds” during the first Shiv Sena-BJP government in the 1990s. He still had relevant files in his possession, said Pawar who holds the finance portfolio.

Pawar, whose Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is an ally of the BJP and Shiv Sena in the state government but is contesting the civic elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad separately, held a press conference on the eve of the polls. The campaign for the high-stakes elections has seen the NCP and BJP levelling allegations of corruption at each other.