Mumbai, Aug 22 Former Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate, on Friday, served a defamation notice to NCP-SP legislator Rohit Pawar for making a video viral about him playing cards in the State Legislative Council.
Rohit Pawar confirmed that he received the defamation notice served by Kokate.
In his post on X, the NCP-SP legislator said, "I received a defamation notice because I made public a video of the former Agriculture Minister playing cards in the Assembly hall. Kokate Saheb, your time had come, but the moment hadn't, so despite causing such a huge scandal, you escaped. If you were so concerned about defamation, why did you indulge in playing cards in the first place? There's no need to separately mention your compassion for farmers and the feats you've accomplished."
He further said, "The notice you (Kokate) sent is amusing; I couldn't stop laughing after reading it. But remember, I don't speak without evidence. I had proven with evidence that you were playing cards, and I will prove it again tomorrow with evidence."
Kokate has repeatedly denied charges amid chorus for his resignation for showing apathy against farmers.
However, NCP President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stripped Kokate of the charge of Agriculture Department and he was now allocated departments of Sports, Youth Welfare, Minority Affairs and Auqaf.
Kokate has said in the notice that Rohit Pawar made defamatory statements while posting a video of him playing cards.
Kokate said in his defamation notice cited statements by Rohit Pawar such as "The ruling NCP cannot do anything without asking the BJP", "Even when eight farmers are committing suicide every day in the state, there is no work to do, so it must be time to play rummy on the Agriculture Minister", "Will the government listen to the cries of farmers demanding crop insurance and loan waiver?"
Earlier, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi had strongly criticised the BJP-led MahaYuti government and Ajit Pawar-led NCP in particular for not asking Minister Kokate to resign but only stripping him of the Agriculture Ministry in the wake his viral video about playing rummy and terming the government a "beggar".
Despite chorus for his resignation, Kokate has been bailed out and he has been now allocated the departments of sports, youth welfare, minority affair and Auqaf.
Dattatray Bharne, who was holding departments of sports, youth welfare, minority affairs and Auqaf, has been appointed as the new Agriculture Minister in a bid to avoid further embarrassment.
NCP-SP, Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT have said that Kokate, who was hogging headlines after stoking controversies, will now act responsibly while new Agriculture Minister Bharne will pay more attention to help the farmers who are in distress.
Rohit Pawar said that the ministerial position is a great responsibility, and if the person in that position does not act responsibly or fails to do justice to the post, the common people bear the brunt.
"Something similar happened in the case of Manikrao Kokate and it was the common farmers who were suffering the consequences, which is why there was a demand for his resignation."
"Instead of accepting Manikrao Kokate's resignation, the government decided to take away the Agriculture Department and assign him the Sports Department. The Sports Department is also important from the perspective of the youth, and while working in this department, he should avoid past mistakes, make proper use of his experience, and do justice to the sports sector. Similarly, it is expected that the new Agriculture Minister, Dattatray Bharne, will do justice to the farmers and remove the shadow of controversies that has plagued this department," Rohit Pawar added.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor