Param Bir letter: No question of replacing Anil Deshmukh, says Jayant Patil

"If we ask Deshmukh to resign now, we would be doing what certain people want," Jayant Patil said

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state chief Jayant Patil said on Sunday that Mumbai Home Minister Anil Deshmukh will not step down.

"The letter (Param Bir Singh's letter to CM) is a reaction after Maharashtra Chief Minister and Home Minister decided to take a tough stand. There is no question of replacing Maharashtra Home Minister," Patil told the media.

Earlier, Maharashtra's Leader of Opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis had demanded Home Minister Anil Deshmukh's resignation over former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh allegations against him.

"We demand Home Minister's resignation. If he doesn't then CM must remove him. An impartial probe must be conducted.... The letter also states that CM was intimated about this earlier so why didn't he act on it?," Fadnavis had said.

On Saturday, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had indulged in "malpractices" and asked suspended API Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month.

The allegations were made a day after Deshmukh had said that Param Bir Singh was moved out as Mumbai Police Commissioner so that cases pertaining to Waze were probed without obstruction

After Param Bir Singh's allegations, Deshmukh on Saturday had said he is filing a defamation suit against the former Mumbai Police Commissioner.