Hours after the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay High Court order on a preliminary probe by CBI into the corruption charges levelled against former home minister Anil Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, the state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Thursday claimed two more state ministers will have to resign in 15 days and that the state was a "fit case for President's rule". However, he clarified that BJP was not making any demand for the same.
His statement came a day after suspended cop Sachin Vaze in a letter claimed former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had demanded ₹ 2 crore from him to continue his service in the Mumbai police and another minister Anil Parab asked him to collect money from contractors.
Patil hinted that there is a possibility that the allegations against Transport Minister Anil Parab may also be clubbed with the probe into charges against Anil Deshmukh. Patil said, "what is in store in the future is the common man's guess".
He said from what is going on in the state, experts should explain what else is needed to impose the President's rule. "If you want to blame the Centre for everything, why not give the state administration to the central government?" he asked.
Patil slammed Deshmukh terming him a "hypocrite" and said that he had moved the Supreme Court against the Bombay HC order for a CBI probe into the allegations against him. "In the resignation letter, Deshmukh says he is quitting to facilitate a free and fair probe, and the next day he moves the Supreme Court against the probe," he noted.
Patil alleged that the MVA government was indulging in an "organised crime". "If the evidence comes out on paper, provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) will have to be invoked," he claimed.
