Facing heat over a string of corruption charges including irregularities in a land deal, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse today resigned, the first casualty in BJP after Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine took over the party pledging zero-tolerance to corruption.
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With his position becoming untenable after the central leadership sent a clear and stern message, the 64-year-old veteran from north Maharashtra drove this morning to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s official residence to offer his resignation.
Khadse’s aide was nabbed for demanding a bribe of Rs. 30 crore in a land deal, mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar used to give call him on his mobile, and the ex-minister’s name figured in the MIDC Pune land scam. However, the original value of the land has been reported to be almost Rs 40 crore.
Khadse had been under fire for the past few weeks from the ruling alliance partner Shiv Sena, as also the opposition Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and activists like Anna Hazre and Anjalai Damania for various alleged acts of commission and omission. He said he tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, keeping in line with the party’s tradition of holding high its moral grounds.
A senior BJP member said the decision to sack Khadse was taken in haste and he should have been given an opportunity to present his case before the BJP leadership.
The Maharashtra’s Anti-Terror squad is investigating the alleged calls to the minister from Dawood Ibrahim. “A retired High Court judge will be appointed to probe charges against Khadse”. It is a different matter that Khadse’s ouster from the cabinet most helps Fadnavis, given the recent frostiness between them. In Mr. Khadse’s home district of Jalgaon, the BJP is likely to face trouble as many party functionaries are likely to resign in a show of solidarity. Handing it over to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Fadnavis said, “Eknath Khadseji has demanded an inquiry into the allegations against him”. SSS leader Sadabhau Khot, who was elected unopposed to the Legislative Council last week from the BJP’s quota, is a contender for a ministerial post, sources said.
It is for the first time that a senior BJP minister has resigned on corruption charges so early in the tenure of any BJP government in state or at the Centre.
Landing a body blow: A serious allegation is that Khadse facilitated the purchase by his wife and son-in-law of a three-acre government land in Bhosri in Pune for his family this April.
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Hacker Manish Bhangale was the one who claimed that Khadse and Dawood had spoken to each other.
