Maharashtra Governor accepts forest minister Sanjay Rathod’s resignation

Amid pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Maharashtra government sent the resignation of forest minister Sanjay Rathod to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari

Amid pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Maharashtra government sent the resignation of forest minister Sanjay Rathod to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. The government accepted the resignation of the minister, whose name surfaced in the death of a woman in Pune on February 7, within hours.

Sanjay Rathod. (HT Photo)

A statement from Raj Bhavan said Koshyari has accepted the resignation sent to him at 4pm and has given permission to hand over the charge of Rathod’s department to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. “The resignation has been accepted by the governor. On request by the chief minister, he has been allowed to keep the additional charge of forest department with him,” the statement from Raj Bhavan stated.

Leader of Opposition in the legislative Assembly Devendra Fadnavis and other BJP leaders Ashish Shelar, Sanjay Kute have been repeatedly criticising the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, questioning why the resignation, which was submitted on Sunday, has been kept with Thackeray. The BJP has been alleging the audio clips that went viral on social media clearly prove the involvement of the minister.

Kute had said resignation was just a farce and the Thackeray government was shielding its minister.

According to the officials from the chief minister’s office, Thackeray is expected to keep the department with him until the next reshuffle of the state cabinet.