State scan: Maharashtra govt in the news for all the wrong reasons

It is hardly surprising that India woke up last week to read juicy details of an extortion and money laundering case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh

It is not uncommon to have ministers in government — state governments — who have serious criminal charges against them. In Maharashtra, it is almost commonplace. The Association of Democratic Rights (ADR) report, issued immediately after the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, that installed a Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition headed by Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray in power, addressed facts baldly: As many as 27 ministers in the state Cabinet of 43 had criminal charges against them, with 18 of them facing serious criminal charges. The ADR’s analysis of the affidavits of 288 MLAs (from which pool, ministers are