Ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP feuded on Wednesday shortly after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Nawab Malik and unanimously decided to defend the minister of state. Despite Malik’s arrest, the Maharashtra state’s Vikas Agadi (MVA) government will not seek his resignation, they said.

The MVA also decided to stage nationwide protests against the BJP.

In the evening, NCP chairman Sharad Pawar held a meeting at his residence with senior party ministers, joined by senior Congress leaders, who expressed solidarity with Malik. A meeting was then held at the official residence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in the presence of senior ministers from Pawar and the coalition government.

NCP senior minister Chhagan Bhujbal called Malik’s arrest unfortunate and said the MVA would stage protests from Thursday.

“We will all fight legally and also go to the people. As ministers, we will be protesting in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue near Mantralaya tomorrow at 10am. Also, starting Friday, we will be in all thalu across the state. Peaceful agitation and protests at the card, city and regional level,” Bhujbal told reporters after meeting Thackeray.

He was also accompanied by senior parliamentary minister Balasaheb Solat and Senna senior minister Subhash Desai.

Bhujbal said Malik would not be asked to resign as the allegations remain unproven, noting that the BJP did not accept Union Minister Narayan Rane’s resignation following his arrest for threatening to attack the prime minister.

“There will be no question of resignation. He has not been convicted. Narayan Rane was also arrested but his resignation was not accepted at the time. There cannot be an issue of resignation until he is proven guilty in court. In our view, he has not Wrong. We will not punish him by seeking to resign until he is found guilty,” Bhujbal said. “What happened with (former home secretary) Anil Deshmukh and (former forest minister) Sanjay Rathod will not happen now. We will not make the BJP happy about Malik’s resignation.”

In April last year, NCP leader Deshmukh offered to resign as home secretary after the Bombay High Court asked the CBI to investigate corruption allegations against him by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh. In February last year, Shiv Sena leader Rathod resigned as forest minister after allegations that he was linked to Pooja Chavan’s death.

Government sources said the MVA had decided not to bow to political pressure and accept Malik’s resignation. “We all know this case was politically motivated and it has now been deliberately dug up. This is a BJP conspiracy to slander and overthrow the MVA government. This is a political fight and we will have a strong fight,” said senior Senna leader told the Indian Express.

Complete News Source : The Indian Express