Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar are pointing fingers at each other over the irrigation issue.

Mr Fadnavis has claimed that his government started the water schemes closed down by the former Congress-NCP government.

To this, Mr Pawar has questioned why the government is starting the schem-es just ahead of the polls and why it did not do the same in the past four years.

The state government recently provided funds for the completion of Tembhu and other irrigation schemes. Mr Fadnavis was on a tour of Sangli recently where he mentioned this and taunted the previous government.

“They kept it closed for long. What they couldn’t do in fifteen years, we did in just four years. Now the important irrigation schemes have started,” Mr Fadnavis said.

Reacting to this Mr Paw-ar, who was the irrigation minister in the Congress-led government said, “This is the fourth year of the BJP-led government. Elec-tions are just four months away. Why did they wait for four years? They should have done the work by the start of their tenure.”