mumbai ajay ashar a developer from thane and a close associate of cm eknath shinde has been appointed vicechairman of maharashtra institution for transformation or mitra the states think tank formed recently on the lines of niti aayogashars appointment to what is a cabinet rank post has raised eyebrows because only months earlier now bjp mumbai unit president ashish shelar speaking on corruption in mva regime had referred to ashars involvement in the urban development department congress sachin sawant on friday tweeted shelars reference while mumbai unit president nana patole asked if deputy cm fadnavis agreed with the appointmentwill focus on development not on developers mitra vicechairman ajay ashar following the appointment of ajay ashar a developer from thane and a close associate of cm eknath shinde as vicechairman of maharashtra institution for transformation or mitra congress nana patole asked devendra fadnavis who was leader of opposition at that time had raised similar objections now how can the shindefadnavis government appoint ashar as vicechairman to an important body which is like niti aayog and also give him cabinet ranka few months ago bjp mla ashish shelar had asked mihir kotecha bjp mulund mla had taken a presser saying ajay ashar took all the decisions in the urban development department this ajay ashar is he above officials in the urban development department fadnavis and shelar did not respond to tois queries on ashars appointment cm shinde is chairman of mitra and fadnavis is cochairman mitra was approved by the state cabinet in october ashar strongly denied the charge that he had any say in the urban development departments decisionsbjp sources said the decision to appoint ashar was unfortunate but added that he is indispensable to shindeashar who has several building projects underway across thane and mumbai speaking to toi of his association with shinde said he has never referred to it but three weeks ago when ashars mother passed away shinde at a condolence meeting revealed how the two had played cricket together as childrenshindes home was 200 meters away from my granduncles industrial compound at wagle estate in thane we would play cricket there i too grew up in wagle estate as we grew older we went our separate ways i went on to become a developer and he a politician and we met again he saidwhen anand dighe the sena leader in thane passed away in 2001 there was a leadership vacuum said ashar shinde had been groomed by dighe i got the local developers under mchicredai to back shinde we worked together to realise the development of thane ashar said while ashar provided the ideas shinde ensured the municipal commissioner implemented them all for the good of thane ashar saidas vicechairman of mitra ashar said he would focus on development and not developers i have seen many places met many people and i want to bring development to mumbai and maharashtra a us 5 trillion economy for india cannot be achieved without a major role being