After the ruling Shiv Sena took the wind out of its sails by seeking the resignation of its Tik Tok star Pooja Chavan’s alleged suicide-linked Minister Sanjay Rathod, the Opposition BJP on Sunday re-calibrated its strategy to target the rape-accused NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde, ahead of the 10-day Budget session beginning here from Monday.
As the Opposition BJP readied itself to the corner the Shiv Sena-led MVA government over the resignation of the Sena’s Forest Minister linked to the alleged suicide by 22-year-old Pooja , 49-year-old Rathod -- accompanied by his wife Shital -- called on Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s official residence Varsha and handed over his resignation to the latter.
Talking to media persons later in the evening, Uddhav said: “Rathod has resigned from the State Cabinet of his own free will. I have ordered an impartial probe into the circumstances leading to the alleged suicide by Pooja Chavan”
Earlier in the day, Pooja Chavan’s father Lahu Chavan, her mother Mandodari Chavan and sister Devyani called on the Chief Minister and submitted him a memorandum to the
At his news conference, the chief minister asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab to read out the resignation letter of Rathod and the memorandum submitted by Pooja’s parents.
In his resignation letter, Rathod urged the chief minister to order a detailed probe into the death of the girl and said he would like to step aside to facilitate a comprehensive probe.
On their part, Pooja’s parents had requested the chief minister not to accept the resignation of Rathod. They, however, said that they wanted the state government to take action against the minister or anyone else if found responsible for their daughter’s death in the probe.
Talking separately to the media, Rathod -- a prominent leader of the Banjara community from eastern Maharashtra --said: I have submitted my resignation to the chief minister. The death of the girl who is also from Banjara community, is very unfortunate. Over the past few weeks, the Opposition has politicised the issue on social media and maligned me and my community. The Opposition has even tried to finish me politically”.
Unfazed by Rathod’s resignation, leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said: “The minister’s resignation is not enough. An FIR should be registered immediately against Rathod. We also demand that the police officers who have not for the past 20 days not registered an FIR against the minister be suspended to facilitate an impartial probe”.
Charging that the chief minister had tried to shield the Sena minister facing charges of abetting the suicide of Pooja, former chief minister and senior BJP leader Narayan Rane demanded that Rathod be immediately arrested to facilitate an impartial probe.
In a development that came after Rathod’s resignation, the State BJP president Chandrakant Patil shifted the goal post and asked NCP chief Sharad Pawar to act against his party’s minister Dhananjay Munde, who is facing an accusation of a rape made by a woman.
Earlier this month, a woman lodged a complaint with the Mumbai police against Maharashtra’s Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde for alleged rape. Following the complaint, the BJP had upped the ante, by demanding the minister’s resignation on “moral grounds” and also seeking action against him from the Election Commission for allegedly suppressing information that he had two wives.
Notwithstanding the resignation of Rathod, the BJP will not only go all out to target the MVA government over his alleged link with Pooja’s suicide, it will also try to corner the Uddhav Thackeray dispensation over Munde’s resignation in the 10-day-long budget session beginning here from Monday.
It may be recalled that on February 8, Pooja had allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the Heaven Park building in Pune’s Wanwadi locality on the intervening night of February 7 and 8.
Following her death, the Opposition BJP on Saturday had upped the ante over the alleged of a 22-year-old Tik-Tok star Pooja Chavan, by rooting for the arrest of Rathod, who was reportedly in love with the deceased woman.
BJP leaders Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Kirit Somaiya and party’s woman leader Chitra Wagh had said that the minister had no moral right to continue in the office. “In fact, he should be booked abetting Pooja’s alleged suicide and arrested immediately,” Wagh said.
Maharashtra’s former chief minister and senior BJP Devenra Fadnavis had demanded that Pooja’s death be investigated in view of the fact that the telephonic conversations between her and the minister had gone viral on society media. The Opposition leaders alleged that Pooja was pregnant at the time of death and that there were reasons to believe that the minister was responsible for her pregnancy.
In the case of Muinde, Pawar had at an initial stage (on February 13) termed the charges made by a woman against his party’s minister were “serious” and said that he would take a call on the issue, after consulting his senior party’s important colleagues. “The charges are serious..The matter is with the police...it is also in court...they will decide, however, we as a party would have to decide on it. I will speak to my colleagues and decide,” Pawar had said.
However, two days later, Pawar had softened his stand over the accusation of rape made by a woman against Munde after two more political leaders alleged that the woman was trying to honey trap them, and said that the police be allowed to investigate the matter.
Ruling out Indirectly any possible action against Munde at the party level, Pawar said:: “Since allegations have been made against the woman who has complained against Munde, we have come to a conclusion that the police be allowed to do a comprehensive probe into the matter. We are confident that the police will do a good job. Hence we will not interfere in the probe. All we have suggested to the government is that an ACP-level woman officer be asked to conduct the probe”.