Amid Waze letter row, state BJP chief claims two more ministers to quit soon

Maharashtra state was a “fit case for President’s Rule” as two more state ministers will have to resign in 15 days, said BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Thursday (April 8) even as the state is reeling from more disclosures of corruption from suspended cop Sachin Waze.

Patil, who was talking to reporters at a press meet, however did not elaborate any further and neither did he share the name of the ministers.

His cryptic remark about the resignation of two more state ministers comes in the wake of a letter written by controversial cop Sachin Waze to NIA that the former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had allegedly demanded ₹2 crore to allow him to serve in the Mumbai police force. And, he accused another minister Anil Parab for asking him to get ₹50 crore from a Trust facing an inquiry to close the probe, as well as collect money from alleged fraudulent contractors on the BMC list.

Also read: Facing CBI probe, Anil Deshmukh resigns as Maharashtra Home Minister

Anil Parab, a Shiv Sena leader, and the Transport Minister in the MVA government has however denied the allegations. He said that he would not be resigning, adding that he was ready to face any inquiry. The charges were part of a conspiracy by the BJP to defame him, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the MVA government, Parab said.

While Anil Deshmukh, a senior NCP leader has resigned as state Home Minister, after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI probe into corruption allegations levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

PTI reported that BJP leader Patil further told reporters, “What is in store in the future is the common man’s guess. Some people will go to court against these ministers and then they will have to quit.” Patil failed to explain what he meant.

According to Patil, there is the possibility now that the allegations against Parab may also be clubbed with the high-level probe into the charges against Anil Deshmukh. This makes Maharashtra  “a fit case for President’s rule,” the BJP leader said. However, he had added that his party was not making the demand but in his view what else was needed to impose the President’s rule.

Also he asked why the state administration was not being handed over to the Central government if they wanted to blame the Centre for everything.

Also read: HC orders CBI inquiry into allegations against Maharashtra minister

Calling Anil Deshmukh a “hypocrite”, he said that after stating in his resignation letter that he was quitting to facilitate a free and fair probe, Deshmukh had moved the Supreme Court the next day against the probe.

Moreover, he criticised the MVA government (comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) in Maharashtra for adjourning the state’s budget session just to aggressively defend Waze. Now they (MVA) don’t trust him, he pointed out.

Alleging that the MVA government was indulging in an “organised crime”, Patil claimed that if evidence of these allegations made by Waze comes out on paper, provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) will have to be invoked.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis also told reporters in Nagpur that the claims made by Waze in his letter are serious and there is a need to deliberate over it.

“The things that are coming out and happening are not good for the reputation of Maharashtra and the state police,” he said, adding that the CBI or any other competent authority should investigate the suspended cop’s letter’s content and come out with the truth.

Meanwhile, The National Investigation Agency on Thursday took suspended police officer Sachin Waze to the government-run J J Hospital for a medical check-up.