Former Maharashtra Sports Minister Manikrao Kokate, who was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Friday in a 1995 cheating and forgery case on a Rs 1 lakh surety, plans to approach the Supreme Court, sources said here on Saturday.
Kokate’s lawyers have decided to do so since the petitioner, former minister Tukaram Dighole who filed the original complaint against Kokate, is expected to move the Supreme Court shortly.
The petitioners have claimed that Kokate’s status since MLA is no longer legally tenable, his lawyers will approach the top court to save his legislative status as soon as he receives the high court order. The lawyers are expected to seek a stay on a previous Nashik Sessions Court judgement convicting Kokate and sentencing him to two-year prison term for availing of government flats for low income citizens on the basis of forged documents.
While granting bail, the Bombay High Court refused to stay the conviction of Kokate and two-year jail term. If Kokate, who is likely to undergo a surgery at Lilavati Hospital in Bandra West gets jailed, will lose his MLA status under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which mandates disqualification of elected representatives sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more in a criminal case. Hence, his lawyers will approach the apex court to avoid such an eventuality, sources said.
Meanwhile, frenetic and competitive lobbying by Ajit Pawar-led NCP MLAs has intensified to grab Kokate’s vacant ministerial post, sources said.
According to sources, Ajit Pawar-led NCP is considering promoting Indranil Naik to the post of cabinet minister and giving portfolios which used to be with Manikrao Kokate to Naik. Indranil Naik, who is from the nomadic Banjara community presently handles six important portfolios as a Minister of State. These portfolios are Industry, Soil and Water Conservation, Tribal Development, Public Works, Higher and Technical Education as well as Tourism.
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP is toying with the idea of strengthening its base in the Vidarbha region in North Maharashtra by promoting Minister of State Indranil Naik, by elevating him as a cabinet minister, sources said.
The party is also looking at elevating Sana Malik, the MLA who represents the Anushakti Nagar constituency in Mumbai, to the Minister of State post which will fall vacant if Indranil Naik is promoted to cabinet minister rank.
The idea behind the Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s move is to provide a fair representation to all three major groups, namely Muslims, women and youth, by elevating its Anushakti Nagar MLA Sana Malik, who ticks all these boxes, sources said.
Both Indranil Naik and Sana Malik are likely to be sworn in before the Budget Session of the legislative assembly is held in February 2026, after the local civic body elections are over, sources said.
Earlier, the names of sacked Food & Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde, Anil Bhaidas Patil, Sanjay Bansode, Majalgaon MLA Prakash Solanke and Maval MLA Sunil Shelke were doing the rounds, but it was decided to drop Dhananjay Munde since he is likely to face legal troubles due to his alleged involvement in the Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case, due to which he was forced to resign.
Moreover, the return of Dhananjay Munde, who is an OBC face, to the cabinet would have antagonised the Maratha community, which the Ajit Pawar-led NCP wanted to avoid, sources said.