Khadse's resignation a cover-up operation, alleges Congress

The Congress on Sunday cornered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in connection with the resignation of Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse and alleged that this a cover-up operation to save a man in touch with the underworld and involved in corrupt activities.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told ANI, "Eknath Khadse's issue is purely a resignation drama. This is perhaps the first resignation that we have seen in the BJP dispensation. Despite Rajnath Singh's comment that in NDA you will never see a resignation unlike the UPA, now that their first resignation has happened. The question is whether this is entirely a cover-up operation to save a man, who has been in touch with the underworld."

"This resignation drama is purely a drama to bail him out. And an inquiry, a probe and an arrest are the right issues which the Maharashtra Government and the Centre need to take... And if the PM's words are to be believed that 'Na khayange na khane denge' is a clear indication 'Wo khane bhi de rahe hai aur khayenge bhi," he added.

Faced with charges of corruption in a Pune land deal and alleged phone calls to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse resigned yesterday.

The development came after Fadnavis met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi late on Thursday night, hours after he gave a report to BJP chief Amit Shah on Khadse.