Congress Demands Sacking of NCP Minister Sentenced to 2 Years Imprisonment

Mumbai: The Congress on Friday urged the Maharashtra governor to sack state agricultural minister Manikrao Kokate, who has been sentenced to two years jail in a cheating case, from the state cabinet. Newly appointed state Congress president Harshwardhan Sakpal demanded that Kokate’s membership of the legislative assembly should also be cancelled.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance government has turned into a gang of corrupt ministers. Former Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde has crossed all limits of corruption under the guise of helping farmers. Now, Manikrao Kokate has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Nashik District Court for fraudulently preparing fake documents. Given this, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should learn a lesson and immediately sack Kokate,” said Sapkal.

“When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted in a bogus defamation case, the Secretariat revoked his MP status overnight, forced him to vacate his government residence, and acted swiftly. Similarly, when former Congress minister Sunil Kedar was sentenced, his MLA post was immediately revoked. But why is there a different justice system for Manikrao Kokate? The government is not acting democratically in this case,” he said.

According to Sapkal, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar is shielding both Munde and Kokate. “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must now muster the courage to remove these corrupt individuals from office,” he said.

Kokate on Thursday was sentenced to two years in prison by a Nashik district court for his involvement in a 30-year-old document tampering and fraud case. The conviction is related to the illegal acquisition of two flats under the chief minister’s discretionary quota. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the NCP leader. His brother, Sunil Kokate, was similarly convicted in the case, which dates back to 1995.