The Maharashtra government on Thursday presented supplementary demands worth ₹6,250.36 crore on the first day of the budget session of the legislature amid sloganeering from the Opposition MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who were demanding the ouster of Nawab Malik from the Cabinet who is arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged money laundering case which involved gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis asked why the Minister hasn’t yet been removed from the Cabinet despite his arrest. “He is accused of providing money to those who were involved in the bomb blasts in Mumbai. How can the Shiv Sena–ruled State government keep him within the government?” he asked. The BJP has already said it will disrupt the session if Mr. Malik is not removed from the Cabinet.
While the Opposition members continued with the protest inside, the treasury benches, who have already termed it as a conspiracy by the Central probe agencies, moved on with the business.
The major chunk of the supplementary demands has gone to the Power department with ₹3,190.16 crore while the Urban Development Department is allotted ₹2,936.21 crore. SARTHI and Annasaheb Patil Economically Backward Development corporation, both aimed at providing benefits to the Maratha community, have been allotted ₹106 crore and ₹100 crore respectively; ₹150 crore to MahaJyoti, meant for the OBC community; ₹390 crore for the farm loan waiver scheme and ₹150 crore for Covid-19 related relief measures.
The ruling benches shot back at the Opposition asking its connections with Iqbal Mirchi, an aide of Dawood Ibrahim, who paid money to the party fund. Speaking to reporters outside assembly house, State Congress president Nana Patole said, “There is no question of taking the resignation of Nawab Malik. Everybody knows that the allegations are politically motivated. It is the same BJP which accepted money from Iqbal Mirchi. Who allowed this? Is he a relative of the BJP?”
