Anna said it is a grave issue and assured me that he will call the chief minister and will also write to the Prime Minister to bring it to their notice.
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The fate of Khadse was sealed two days ago after Fadnavis briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah in Delhi about the development and its possible fallout on the image of the ministry.
Regarding allegations of receiving calls from Dawood Ibrahim’s house, he said, “The police have said that no call was made or received on my mobile from Dawood Ibrahim”.
Following the same pattern, the BJP has not officially pointed any fingers at Mr Khadse.
In all three instances Khadse denies any wrong-doing. “Time will tell who is behind this making me a target”, he said, adding it had taken him four decades of hard work to build a political career which his detractors were seeking to destroy.
Fadnavis has been asked to convey this message to Khadse.
Yesterday, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Narayan Rane had alleged that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was behind the ouster of Khadse and sought to know as to why only backward class leaders are facing trouble in the ministry.
That scandal involved a deceitful sale of flats, originally meant for war widows, to politicians and military officers at below-market prices. Mr. Khadse belongs to the Leva Patil ommunity, and was mentored by the BJP’s OBC face, Gopinath Munde. Demanding an inquiry into the allegations, he asserted he had done no wrong and would come back.
Dev’s comments referred to the Pune plot bought by the minister in April, but acquired by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) 45 years ago. Manish Bhangale, an ethical hacker in Vadodra, had given to India Today the call records of 4 phones registered in the name of Dawood’s wife Mehjabeen Shaikh.
“If Khadse was so clean then there was no need to resign”.
It’s not just the opposition.
Already, a section of BJP workers in his home-district Jalgaon forced shops to shut down as his resignation was accepted, and let it be known that their loyalties lay with him and not with the party.
Sources said that strict instructions have been issued to local leaders not to speak to the media out of turn and hence no one is willing to talk on the issue.
“The Sena should stop advising the BJP and stop interfering in our internal matters”.
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“The Dawood link was a mere rank multiplier – the real reason he went was for trying to blackmail the party leadership about his hold over Maharashtra’s BJP MLAs in the Legislative Assembly”.
