Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday to discuss the political fallout of an arrest warrant issued bya Nashik district court against Sports Minister Manikrao Kokate
As a result of the court move, Kokate is facing a two-year jail term and a consequent exit from the state cabinet. Earlier on Wednesday, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Bandra West after the court in Nashik ordered his immediate arrest in a 1995 case for forging documents to acquire flats meant for low-income category people from the chief minister’s quota. His hospitalisation is being perceived as an attempt to avoid arrest and buy time from the court.
The development came despite Kokate’s lawyer Aniket Nikam challenging his conviction and two-year jail term at the Bombay High Court which is scheduled to hear the case on December 19. If the high court does not stay his arrest, Kokate may have to resign as sports minister, according to the Representation of the People Act.
At Wednesday’s hearing, his lawyer informed the high court that Kokate is currently undergoing treatment at hospital without submitting medical documents. Refuting Kokate’s medical condition, the petitioners’ lawyer Advocate Ashutosh Rathod told the court that the minister was present at the state cabinet meeting.
According to the Representation of the People Act, if a representative of the people is sentenced to jail for two years or more, he will be immediately disqualified. As Kokate has already been sentenced to two-year imprisonment due to which he will no longer be eligible to remain in his ministerial position and even his position as an MLA will be revoked if the Bombay High Court refuses to stay his arrest.
Later on Wednesday, Fadnavis met Pawar, who is Manikrao Kokate’s political godfather, to discuss the outcome of his probable exit from the cabinet.
According to sources, the chief minister is upset with the arrest warrant issued against Kokate, his former food & civil supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde’s moves in Delhi and its unexpected political consequences.
What has complicated matters for Fadnavis is that Munde, who he had to sack from his cabinet due to his alleged involvement in the Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case, met Union Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to lobby for his return to the Maharashtra cabinet as a minister, in case Kokate is left with no option but to resign.
Sources said that Munde came to Parliament House at 11 am to meet Shah. Senior Ajit Pawar-led NCP leaders like Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare are also in Delhi, it is learnt.
What may complicate matters further is the claim by former minister Munde’s supporters that he was made to resign as minister merely on “ethical reasons”, though he was never convicted by any court, while Kokate has already been convicted by a court and sentenced to a two-year jail term. Since no court convicted Munde, he continues to be an Ajit Pawar-led NCP MLA, according to Munde’s supporters.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad and anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania demanded immediate removal of Kokate from the state cabinet after a sessions court upheld his conviction in a cheating and forgery case.
Gaikwad accused the BJP-led Mahayuti government of protecting the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader despite the court confirming his two-year jail sentence in a case dating back to 1995.