Subhash Desai offers resignation, CM refuses to accept it

Mumbai: Shiv Sena minister Subhash Desai, who was recently accused of denotifying Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) land, offered his resignation to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday morning but the latter refused to accept it. Shiv Sena sources said Mr Desai’s offer to resign has in turn mounted pressure on the government to seek resignation from another tainted BJP minister, Prakash Mehta, who is facing allegations related to his involvement in a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scam.

Mr Mehta is under attack over the Tardeo SRA development project, where he is accused of misleading the department and Mr Fadnavis to favour a developer. There were reports that housing minister Prakash Mehta also offered his resignation to the CM.

Later in the day, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray confirmed Mr Desai had offered his resignation and said an independent inquiry announced by Mr Fadnavis will bring out the truth.

Mr Desai went to Mr Fadnavis’ bungalow on Saturday morning to submit his resignation after opposition Congress-NCP accused him of corruption. In a release, Mr Desai said “I offered my resignation to the CM, which he refused. He said there was no need for the resignation. An impartial inquiry would be conducted in the matter and action will be taken based on the report.”  

Mr Desai also spoke to Mr Thackeray on the issue. “I will cooperate with the inquiry completely and accept with the outcome of it,” he added.

Speaking to the media, Mr Thackeray said the party is firmly behind Mr Desai. “It is sad that politics is deteriorating. Those who are making allegations are corrupt themselves. Mr Desai willingly offered his resignation. But the CM refused it. The CM has assured to carry out an impartial inquiry that will bring out the truth,” he said.

On Friday, the last day of the monsoon session of the legislature, Mr Fadnavis announced two separate inquiries into corruption charges against two ministers from his Cabinet — the BJP’s Prakash Mehta and Sena’s Mr Desai. In Mr Desai’s case, almost 12,000 hectare of MIDC land all over the state was denotified. Opposition leader in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde of the Nationalist Congress Party had called it the “biggest ever” land scam in the state, worth around Rs 60,000 crore.

Sources in the Sena said that the party was trying to build pressure on the BJP. If Mr Fadnavis had accepted the resignation of Mr Desai, it was obvious that he would have also had to seek the resignation of Mr Mehta, the sources said.