Not Mandatory To Seek Resignation Of Any Minister Until Crime Proven: Jayant Patil
Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Jayant Patil said it’s not mandatory to seek the resignation of any minister until the crime is proven. His statement comes as NCP’s Nawab Malik has been arrested by the ED in connection with a money laundering case.
Evidently targeting the opposition BJP, Patil said attempts were being made to harass the ministers of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a party program here on Tuesday.
Asked about BJP state president Chandrakant Patil’s statement that his party will not allow the upcoming budget session of the state assembly to continue if Malik continues to be a cabinet minister despite his arrest, the NCP leader said, “The BJP has to You should let yourself have your say. Stand by Malik during the session and an appropriate reply will be given.”
“If some kind of action is being taken against ministers every day, then it is not mandatory to demand their resignations. If the crime against him is not proven yet, why would that person resign?” he said.
“In the case of (former home) Anil Deshmukh, we took his resignation innocently when he was arrested, but later it was understood that the ministers against him were weak. Efforts are being made to put our ministers in trouble. We have taken one resignation, but now we feel there is no need to demand the resignation of others,” said Patil, who is the water resources minister.
State Minority Affairs Minister and ruling NCP spokesperson Malik was arrested last week by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money-laundering probe into the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his associates.
Deshmukh, who resigned as a minister in April last year, was accused of corruption by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. The ED had arrested him in November last year.
The BJP has been aggressively demanding Malik’s resignation, saying that he has no moral right to remain a minister.
The upcoming budget session of the Maharashtra legislature will be held from March 3 to 25 in Mumbai.
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