Ruling, Opposition parties spar over Khadse row in Mah Council

The ruling and Opposition parties today engaged in a war of words over the alleged telephonic conversations between former Maharashtra Revenue minister Eknath Khadse and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Raising the issue through an adjournment motion, Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt rubbished the clean chit given to the beleaguered minister by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claiming that the ATS has cleared him of links with Dawood, and the Bombay High Court had disposed the matter.
"The judge has clearly mentioned that they have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the allegations made by the petitioner. Then how can Chief Minister claim that the matter has been rejected by the HC," he questioned quoting the HC judgement.

"The investigation is being conducted only in respect of one telephone number while the complaint was against two numbers. What happened to the second number ?" he asked.
He sought to know that when an inquiry is in progress, on what basis has Khadse been given a clean chit.
Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde also backed Dutt and said the government needs to make its stand clear on the issue.

Parliamentary Affairs minister Girish Bapat then said that rules are not being followed while raising motions over issues.
"The Chair is allowing members whose names are not even mentioned to talk over issues. This is injustice," he said.

Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar later rejected the motion over discussion on the issue.
Earlier this month, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had told the Bombay High Court that its preliminary inquiry has found that there was no exchange of calls between Khadse and the fugitive gangster and that no terrorist link was found, as alleged by a Gujarat-based hacker Manish Bhangale.
The high court, after disposing of Bhangale's petition had aske him to appear before the crime branch as and when required and provide the information he has.