Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raosaheb Patil Danve on Wednesday took a jibe at the Maharashtra Chief Minister by saying that Uddhav Thackeray should take a strong stand on the arrest of state minister Nawab Malik like the one taken by Bal Thackeray on bomb blasts.

“If he (Nawab Malik) is associated with those who planned those bomb blasts then the Chief Minister should take a similar stand what Bal Thackeray took at the time of bomb blast. If he fails to do so then people would differentiate between the father and son,” said Danve.

Demanding the resignation of Malik from the cabinet in connection with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s money laundering case, the BJP leader said that “incriminating documents against Malik were found by ED after it conducted raids at the residence of Haseena Parkar. I don’t think such a person should remain part of the cabinet anymore. If the state government feels that culprits should be a part of the government, then they should immediately call for his resignation.”

Slamming the Nationalist Congress Party for supporting Malik even after the arrest, Union Minister said “it’s not supported for Malik but support for Dawood Ibrahim.”

Reacting to Malik’s “not scared, will fight and win” statement made soon after the arrest, BJP leader said, “Fight us politically over the issue of education and development of the state.”

“What sort of this fight is this where you are standing with such culprits (Dawood Ibrahim)? Both Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray should think about this,” he said.

The Special PMLA court in Mumbai on Wednesday sent Nawab Malik to Enforcement Directorate custody till March 3 in connection with Dawood Ibrahim’s money laundering case.

Last week, the ED on Tuesday conducted raids at the residence of Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar in Mumbai in connection with the money laundering case.

Searches were carried out by the ED at several places linked to people associated with the underworld in Mumbai, informed sources said on Tuesday.

The ED had also conducted searches at 10 different locations related to late Haseena Parkar, sister of Dawood Ibrahim, in Nagpada.

The agency had also questioned Dawood’s nephew and Parkar’s son Alishah Parkar and Chota Shakeel’s henchman, Salim Qureshi, aka Salim Fruits.