BJP is not happy with Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s resignation as the party is seriously perturbed over Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s deafening silence on a number of issues including bomb scare, Mansukh Hiran death case, former Mumbai Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh’s charges, and IPS officer Rashmi Shukla’s report on police transfer racket.
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said Deshmukh should have resigned much earlier after Singh in his letter to Thackeray levelled serious corruption charges against him. "Anil Deshmukh should have resigned earlier. We demanded his resignation right from the beginning of this case,” he noted.
"Anil Deshmukh's resignation is in the right direction and the High Court has vindicated the BJP’s stand which the party has presented right from the beginning of this case,’’ said Fadnavis.
The CBI probe will reveal how an extortion racket was carried out with blessings of the government and ministers, he said, adding that all efforts were made to show IPS officers like Singh and Rashmi Shukla, a former additional director general of police (Intelligence) at the centre of a phone-tapping controversy, in a bad light.
State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said he is happy that Deshmukh has stepped down and added that there will be many "shocking revelations" in the CBI probe.
"Many skeletons will tumble out after the 15-day CBI preliminary probe. The truth will come out regarding Deshmukh's demand to Waze to collect Rs 100 crore. The CBI will bring out all the things in its own style," said Patil.
The BJP leader said he was satisfied that NCP chief Sharad Pawar took the decision sensitively about Deshmukh's resignation after the HC asked the CBI to conduct a probe into the matter.
Former minister Pankaja Munde said more resignations are expected in the days to come.
State BJP Chief Spokesman Keshav Upadhye tweeted after the resignations of Shiv Sena and NCP, the Congress under the Common Minimum Programme of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government should get a chance for the third wicket. He took a swipe at Congress saying it should not be treated unfairly.
