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Maharashtra alliance to hold series of meetings on Monday, expected to take a call on Anil Deshmukh
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Sunday that allegations against Deshmukh are serious and said it is the prerogative of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to remove him.
The constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition will hold a series of meetings on Monday and are expected to take a decision on Anil Deshmukh, the state home minister who has been accused of extortion by former Mumbai cop Param Bir Singh. The MVA is made up of three parties - Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.
Also Read: Ex-Mumbai police chief accuses minister of extortion, throws govt into crisis
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Sunday that allegations against Deshmukh are serious and that it is the prerogative of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to remove him. Pawar also said that he will hold meetings with his party leaders on Monday and speak to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue.
Pawar also said that Singh made the allegations after his transfer on March 17 to the Home Guards. He added that the development will have no impact on the MVA government.
The Shiv Sena, on its part, said that Singh's allegations have maligned the image of MVA government.
Speaking to reporters in Nashik on Sunday, Sena leader Sajay Raut said that such allegations on the minister of a state cabinet are shocking for someone like him who is the well-wisher of the government.
"The government does not make decisions based on what the opposition says or demands. But I have to accept that in the last few hours, whatever allegations have come to light through a letter has maligned the image of the government."
"Now we all have to sit and think about how we can clean the image of the government. But as I said earlier, all the constituents of the alliance in the state have to see if their feet are on the ground," Raut said.
The Congress too has warned that the issue will cast a shadow on the MVA government. Party leader Sanjay Nirupam said the party must take a stand on the issue.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have demanded Deshmukh's resignation. In fact, the BJ{ has been pressurising the state government by holding demonstrations at multiple locations.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Saturday wrote a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that Deshmukh had indulged in "malpractices" and asked suspended cop Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore every month from city's joints.
Singh said in the eight-page letter that he has been "made a scapegoat to divert attention from the actual wrongdoers".
Singh was shunted out as Mumbai police commissioner in the midst of investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into recovery of an explosives-laden vehicle which was found parked outside the south Mumbai residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani last month. The NIA also arrested Vaze in the same case.
Deshmukh denied these allegations and said he is will file a defamation suit against Singh.
