Thaindian News

Mumbai, June 8 (IANS) The arrest of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Padamsinh Patil by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) rocked the Maharashtra assembly Monday with the opposition demanding the resignation of Home Minister Jayant Patil and Information Minister Rana Jagatjitsinh Patil, the son of the accused.
The issue came up prominently in the assembly and council when the day’s proceedings began in the morning, leading to adjournments of the houses amid an uproar created by the opposition.

The NCP MP from Osmanabad, Padamsinh Patil was arrested late Sunday night by the CBI in connection with the killing of his cousin and Congress leader Nimbalkar, and his driver Samad Qazi, at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai July 3, 2006.

“We have been raising the mater of the clean chit given to Patil since the past three years, but no action was taken,” said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Eknath Khadse.

“The government protected him. Now Patil has been arrested from the official residence of his son. All those ministers who can influence the CBI probe should resign from their posts,” Khadse said initiating the debate in the assembly on the law and order situation in the state.

He also demanded that Home Minister Jayant Patil of the NCP must step down owning moral responsibility in the matter.

Even as Khadse spoke, opposition members of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance rushed to the well of the house and raised loud slogans, prompting the intervention of Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar.

“Is this a democracy? Please call back your members,” he urged the Shiv Sena’s Ramdas Kadam.

Raising objections to the opposition legislators rushing to the well of the house, Legislative Affairs Minister Harshavardhan Patil said they were not interested in the government’s answer.

Earlier in the day, Kadam said Patil would not have been arrested for Nimbalkar’s murder if the Bombay High Court had not intervened and handed over the case to the CBI.

“The ruling Democratic Front (DF) government has tried to hush up the entire matter,” Kadam alleged, demanding the resignation of the home minister.

In the council, senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari said: “The law and order machinery in the state has collapsed.”

He also demanded Patil’s resignation, a demand seconded by his colleagues Panduran Phundkar (BJP) and Diwakar Raote (Shiv Sena).

Khadse pointed out that during DF rule, there have been as many as 64 incidents of politically-motivated attacks.

In this context, he mentioned the recent murder of Lonavala Municipal Council president Bhupendra alias Raju Choudhary in his office; the killing of Ankush Rane, a cousin of state Revenue Minister Narayan Rane: the firing outside the office of Congress candidate in the Lok Sabha elections Eknath Gaikwad and the killing of Maharashtra Kesari awardee wrestler Sanjay Patil.