An hour after Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik was arrested on suspicion of money laundering linked to wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim, Bharatiya Janata Party (Bharatiya) Janata Party) called on the KMT leader to resign, warning of protests if he did not.

BJP leader Chandrakant Patil told reporters “we asked him to resign” and questioned Maha Vikas Aghadi’s ruling coalition (made up of NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress).

“Nawab Malik has been arrested and he should resign now. We are asking him to resign. If he doesn’t, we will protest. How do you run the government?” he was quoted as saying by the ANI news agency.

“There is a long list of allegations against the Maharashtra minister,” he said.

BJP leader and former minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said: “If he did anything suspicious, it should be investigated. There should be no rush to label it as a politics of vendetta.”

Malik’s National Congress party, however, challenged itself to defend his senior leaders, calling the central authorities’ questioning an “abuse of power” and condemning it as a pressure tactic to silence his voice.

Malik, 62, has been a ruthless critic of the BJP in recent months, launching daily attacks on the Narcotics Control Board, which handles the high-profile Aryan Khan case, and accusing the opposition party of intimidating its headlines Competitor’s central officials.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar led the charge earlier today, claiming he knew Malik would be harassed for speaking out against the BJP.

“…Malek speaks openly (to the center). We are sure he will be harassed,” he said. “It is easy to associate Muslims with Dawood…Associating people with names, through abuse of power harass and defame them.”

Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, an MP, called it “an insult to Maharashtra”.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patol called Malik’s questioning an act of “revenge” and said a concerted crackdown on tactics to silence political opponents is now needed.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut also told ANI news agency: “The way he was taken out of his home is a challenge to the Maharashtra government.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party has denied such allegations, saying the BJB’s actions cannot be described as a “vendetta policy”.

The party also said opposition leaders could go to court if they suspected abuse of power.

Emergency department personnel arrived at Malik’s home on Wednesday morning. He was briefly interrogated at his home before being taken to the agency’s offices, where he was interrogated for another seven hours before being arrested, according to the PTI news agency.

A defiant Malik said as he was taken: “Jhukenge nahi, darenge nahi, uncover the kalenge (we will not bow our heads, we will not be afraid, we will expose (lies)).

ANI cited sources as saying Malik was arrested for lack of cooperation.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times