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Minister demands President's rule in Maharashtra amid corruption claim against Anil Deshmukh
Ramdas Athawale's meeting comes in the backdrop of extortion allegations against Deshmukh levelled by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who was recently removed from his post.
Union minister Ramdas Athawale said on Thursday that he met President Ram Nath Kovind on behalf of his Republican Party of India (A) over the current political situation on Maharashtra. Athawale said that he demanded President’s rule to be imposed in the state amid corruption allegations against the home minister Anil Deshmukh, reported news agency ANI.
“...gave him (President Kovind) a memorandum on behalf of RPI (A) party demanding the President's rule in Maharashtra. It is a serious matter. No inquiry can take place until the Maharashtra government is removed. He said that he will consider it,” he told ANI.
Watch | Ramdas Athawale meets Kovind, seeks President's rule in Maharashtra
Athawale's meeting comes in the backdrop of extortion allegations against Deshmukh levelled by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who was recently removed from his post. In a letter to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Singh stated that the home minister tasked now suspended police officer Sachin Vaze with collecting ₹100 crore a month from restaurants and bars in Mumbai. Vaze has been arrested in cases related to bomb scare at billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence last month.
The minister, however, has denied the allegations saying he was admitted to a hospital in Nagpur after testing positive for Covid-19 and then home quarantining at his Mumbai bungalow in February, when according to the cop’s letter he met Vaze.
As opposition leaders continued to mount pressure on the government, Deshmukh on Wednesday wrote to chief minister Thackeray seeking an investigation into the corruption charges levelled against him by Singh. "If the chief minister inquires the matter, I would welcome it. Satyamev Jayate," he wrote on Twitter and posted the copy of the letter he sent.
The top cop on the other hand has approached the Supreme Court demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Deshmukh. The apex court directed him to the high court saying the latter was a more appropriate forum for deciding on the issue. Following this, the former Mumbai Police chief withdrew his petition.
NCP leaders including the party’s national chief Sharad Pawar have backed Deshmukh. The former chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, however, has continued to raise his voice alleging that this is not the first time corruption charges have been made against the state home minister. He has repeatedly demanded Deshmukh’s resignation.
