Maha Congress president Nana Patole demands resignation of Fadnavis over phone tapping episode

Maharashtra Congress president and MLA Nana Patole demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, for shielding culprits in an alleged phone tapping case.

Talking to reporters in Nagpur, which is hosting the winter session of the state legislature, Patole maintained the Opposition will consider moving a no confidence motion against Assembly speaker Rahul Narvekar if he continues to behave in a biased manner.

According to a report of PTI, Why is the government backing the culprits in the phone tapping case?" the Congress legislator asked.Patole said in 2016-17, when the state was under the Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation, phones of public representatives, government officials and journalists were illegally tapped.

Cases were also registered against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla in this regard, he said. Shukla headed the Maharashtra State Intelligence Department and also served as the Pune police commissioner during her tenure in the state. The IPS officer is now on central deputation serving as additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad.

But the present government (Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party dispensation) is trying to give her a clean chit when an inquiry committee has also found her guilty. This episode is from the time when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister and Home Minister and he is still the Home Minister, Patole said.