BJP ups the ante on Chavan resignation

The state BJP has demanded Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's resignation over the issue of the prime minister directly naming him in the appointment of controversial ex- CVC P. J. Thomas. Incidentally, the chief minister rushed to Delhi on Thursday canceling all appointments.

State BJP chief Sudhir Mungantiwar said in Mumbai today the so- called 'clean' CM is not as clean as it seems. " Firstly there were allegations against him regarding non- disclosure of flat at Wadala, then there were allegations in the Sband scam and now none other than the prime minister of the country has said he hid information regarding the ex- CVC Thomas." BJP leader Pandurang Fundkar demanded the chief minister's resignation saying the Kerala chief minister had clarified that he had alerted the center about the involvement of Thomas in the palm oil scam. At that time, it was Prithviraj's department that was scanning the credentials, which the PM has said, were not disclosed to him. " If the CM does not resign, we would raise the demand in the house," Fundkar added.

On March 14, all top leaders of the state BJP and Venkaiya Naidu would lead a morcha from Azad Maidan to Vidhan Bhavan. The morcha would protest against the state's apathy toward different mafias and scams like oil, sand, land, education etc.

Mungantiwar said he expects around five to six lakh workers from across the state to join in the morcha. About 5000 cyclists from across the state are also expected to join the agitation. The slogan would be 'mafia sakar hatao - Maharashtra bachao'. This agitation has already been started from the district where additional collector ashwant Sonawane was burnt alive by oil mafia. For the past 15 days top BJP leaders have been addressing rallies against the mafia and scam ridden government all over the state.

Public rallies for the agitation was carried out in 250 vidhan sabha constituencies and in 2100 small villages, moreover 1000 local meetings were also organized, Mungantiwar informed.