The BJP is firm on its demand for the removal of minister of state for home Ramesh Bagwe. However, though the state government is not taking a cue from the demand, the opposition is not ready to take any steps to force the issue any further.
On Tuesday, BJP state president Mr Sudhir Mungantiwar said that Mr Bagwe must resign for hiding the record of his criminal cases in an election affidavit. However, he said that his party will not resort to any agitation for Mr Bagwe’s ouster.
Justifying the BJP’s wait-and-watch policy, Mr Mungantiwar said, “As per law of natural justice, we should wait for the chief minister’s decision on this matter. Once truth comes out, the BJP will decide the future course of action.”
However, Mr Mungantiwar denied that the BJP was going soft on Mr Bagwe’s issue. “A person with a criminal record should never be a home department minister. Mr Bagwe must resign on this ground,” he added.
Senior BJP leaders Mr Gopinath Munde, Mr Eknath Khadse and the BJP’s alliance partner the Shiv Sena have already demanded Mr Bagwe’s resignation from the post. Mr Munde has said that no person with a criminal record should remain in the post, while Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has blamed Mr Bagwe of
bringing disrepute to the home ministry of Maharashtra.
Interestingly, Mr Mungantiwar had not made any comment on the issue till Monday. However, after Mr Munde’s comments on Mr Bagwe, the state BJP president said that the comment made by Mr Munde is his party’s stand.
Mr Bagwe has been embroiled in a controversy for the last one week after the Pune police stalled his application for the renewal of his passport citing 19 criminal cases against him. However, the minister refuted the charges and said that he is facing only three cases related to political agitations that he had participated in.
Meanwhile, Mr Bagwe could still be in trouble even if he has three cases against him, because in his election affidavit filed before the Election Commission last year, the minister had claimed that there were no criminal cases pending against him.