Ramdas Athawale writes to Shah, demands President's Rule in Maharashtra

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday sent a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding President's Rule in Maharashtra.

"A detail investigation should be done in the allegations made by Parambir Singh letter against the Maharashtra Home Minister. The people of Maharashtra have lost their faith in this government over the law and order issue. So, the Maharashtra government should be dissolved and president rule shall be imposed in the state," read a press statement by Athawale.

He also said that he would be meeting Shah in a couple of days and will raise the issue.

Earlier, Shiv Sena, in its mouthpiece 'Saamna', alleged that former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had written the letter at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"If someone is attempting to get president rule imposed in Maharashtra by misusing central agencies, then I am warning them- you yourself will get burnt in that fir," Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had said.

Singh on Saturday alleged that Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had indulged in "malpractices" and asked suspended API Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month.

In the letter, Singh, who has now been posted as Commandant General of Home Guards, also said that he has been "made a scapegoat to divert attention from the actual wrongdoers".

He further said that Sachin Vaze, who was heading the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police, was called by Deshmukh to his official residence several times in the last few months and "repeatedly instructed to assist in the collection of funds".

The allegations made by Singh came a day after Deshmukh had said that Singh was moved out as Mumbai Police Commissioner so that cases pertaining to Waze were probed without obstruction.