Maharashtra BJP president forsees resignation of 1 more MVA Minister in next 8 days

A day after Anil Deshmukh resigned as the Maharashtra Home Minister, BJP's state unit chief Chandrakant Patil predicted that another MVA Minister will resign in the next eight days. Addressing party workers on the occasion of BJP's Foundation Day on Tuesday, Patil used a cricket analogy to indicate tough times ahead for the state government. At the same time, he denied the charge that BJP is trying to topple the state government. Meanwhile, NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil has assumed charge of the Home Ministry. 

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil remarked, "You are lying every day that the Ministers haven't done anything wrong. You took (Anil Deshmukh's) resignation after the HC dealt you a blow. Not just one there have been two resignations. In the next 8 days, there will be one more resignation. Yesterday, someone commented that two wickets have fallen in 36 balls. There will be a flurry of wickets. You will be finished because of your karma. But please do not harm the interest of the common person."

Anil Deshmukh resigns post HC order

The controversy came to the fore on February 20 when ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh levelled serious 'extortion' charges against Anil Deshmukh. In a letter addressed to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Singh refuted Deshmukh's remarks that his transfer was due to serious lapses in the Antilia bomb scare case. Moreover, he alleged that the NCP leader had asked Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze to extort Rs.100 crore per month from 1750 bars, restaurants and other establishments in Mumbai.

The biggest blow for Deshmukh, however, came in the form of the order pronounced by a two-judge bench of the Bombay HC comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni on Monday. The verdict came after multiple petitioners including Singh, Dr Jaishri Patil and Ghanshyam Upadhyay moved the HC seeking a CBI investigation in the matter. While the HC observed that the ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner should have filed an FIR, it took umbrage at the fact that the police had not registered an FIR based on Patil's complaint.

Noting that there cannot be an unbiased probe if the same is handed over to the state police as Deshmukh is the Home Minister, the bench ordered the CBI Director to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Patil's complaint and conclude it preferably within 15 days' time. While Deshmukh stepped down on moral grounds subsequently, he and the Maharashtra government have challenged the HC judgment before the Supreme Court.