After Anil Deshmukh, Maharashtra CM should also step down: Ramdas Athawale

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. File pic

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday said Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has lost the moral ground to continue to be in power and should immediately resign.

"Anil Deshmukh stepped down but he should have stepped down earlier. Not just this, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also has lost the moral ground to continue to be in power and should immediately resign," Athawale told ANI.

He added that this was the first time a police officer, who is supposed to protect people, has been involved in such activity.

The Union Minister questioned why Deshmukh did not resign before and did so only after Mumbai High Court ordered a CBI Inquiry into the allegations made by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Slamming the Maha Vikas Aghadi government for its mismanagement of the COVID-19 situation, Athawale said, "The state government has completely failed in controlling the deteriorating COVID-19 situation. Maharashtra is the number one contributor on a daily basis."

Deshmukh, who is facing allegations of corruption levelled by Singh, has tendered his resignation to Uddhav Thackeray on Monday.

The developments came after Bombay High Court on Monday ordered the CBI to start a preliminary inquiry within 15 days into corruption allegations against Deshmukh.

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