3 MLAs facing controversies in Maha cabinet

August 09, 2022 15:22

Three of the 18 ministers sworn in on Tuesday during the Maharashtra cabinet expansion have been mired in controversies.

Newly inducted minister Sanjay Rathod, who also served as a minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led state government, had resigned last year after he was linked to a woman's death in Pune.

When Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde rebelled against the party leadership in June this year, Rathod joined his camp.

Chief Minister Shinde on Tuesday said police had given a clean chit to Rathod, hence he was inducted into the state cabinet.

However, state Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Chitra Wagh it was unfortunate that Rathod was inducted into the cabinet when he was allegedly responsible for a woman's death.

"Even if he is made a cabinet minister, I will continue my fight against him. I have faith in the judiciary. We will fight and win," she said.

Another newly inducted minister and rebel Sena MLA Sattar was at the centre of a row on Monday when the names of his three daughters and a son appeared in the list of the 7,880 candidates who were disqualified and banned in connection with the alleged rigging of the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) 2019-20.

Sattar was previously in the Congress and joined the Shiv Sena before the 2019 Assembly elections.

He also joined the Shinde camp in June following the rebellion.

On the TET controversy, Sattar on Monday alleged it was a political conspiracy and questioned the timing of the list on the eve of the Maharashtra cabinet expansion.

Another newly inducted minister and BJP leader Vijaykumar Gavit was five years back found guilty of corruption and irregularities in the tribal development department led by him between 2004 and 2009.

Gavit was in the Nationalist Congress Party during 2004-09 and had served as a minister in the then Congress-NCP government.

He later joined the BJP and won the Assembly elections in 2014 and 2019. -- PTI

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