HM vs Param Bir: Uddhav Thackeray no longer has moral responsibility to govern Maharashtra, says BJP

NEW DELHI: Hours after Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh submitted his resignation on "moral grounds", Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has lost the moral responsibility to govern.

"I find it interesting that Anil Deshmukh has taken moral responsibility. Deshmukh in his letter said that he is giving his resignation on moral grounds. How about the responsibility of CM? Where is your morality? Uddhav Thackeray has forfeited the moral responsibility to govern," Prasad said.

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Addressing a press conference in Delhi, the leader said,"Your minister who always defended himself, today resigned on moral grounds, but where is your morality." He further targeted the Shiv Sena leader over the silence of the alleged allegations of corruption against Anil Deshmukh.

"The consistent conspicuous silence of Uddhav Thackeray is raising a lot of questions into the matter," he said today. Deshmukh, who is facing allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, has tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today.

The developments come after Bombay High Court on Monday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to start a preliminary inquiry within 15 days into corruption allegations against Deshmukh by the former Mumbai Police Commissioner.

The court also directed the agency to register an FIR if any cognizable offence is found. The court also stated that Anil Deshmukh is the Home Minister and no impartial probe can be done by the police.

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In his plea, Param Bir Singh repeated the graft allegations that he had made against Deshmukh in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and also accused the Maharashtra Home Minister of interfering in police investigations and involving in severe "malpractices".

Singh had earlier written a letter to Thackeray alleging that Deshmukh had indulged in "malpractices" and asked suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crores every month.