No need for controversy, Lonikar has clarified: Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

Water supply and sanitation minister Lonikar has been under the scanner over the varying educational qualification details he has provided over the past four elections.

Backing his cabinet colleague and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Babanrao Lonikar, who is in the middle of the storm over his educational qualification, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said as the former has issued a clarification with supporting documents, “there is no point creating controversy”.

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Water supply and sanitation minister Lonikar has been under the scanner over the varying educational qualification details he has provided over the past four elections.

In his election affidavit submitted to the Election Commission in 2004 and 2009, the legislator from Latur claimed he has cleared his first year of Bachelor of Arts from the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik. However, in his affidavit for the 2014 polls, Lonikar stated he has studied only till Class 5.

“Lonikar has clarified on the issue,” Fadnavis said, at an event at Chakan, near Pune.

State BJP chief Raosaheb Danve, however, said the party would scrutinise the documents submitted by Lonikar. “I had appeared for my FYBA, but could not clear the exam till 1999, when I was first elected to the Assembly. I continued to mention it in the affidavits in the 2004 and 2009 elections. When I realised it was not possible for me to clear the exam, I stated I had studied till Class 5 in my 2014 election affidavit,” Lonikar had earlier said.