After Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate threatened to move a defamation suit in connection with a recent video showing him playing an online card game at the state Assembly, Opposition MLA Rohit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) posted two more videos in which he was seen playing games on the phone in the House. Kokate, however, refused to tender his resignation in the wake of the controversy, saying that he did not commit any mistake. “Why should I resign? Have I outraged the modesty of anyone or have I robbed anyone? What is my crime? I have written to the Chief Minister, Deputy CM, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council to probe the incident. Let the truth come out. If I am found guilty, I will resign,” he said on Tuesday morning. Adding that House proceedings were not underway when the video was captured, the minister said he will drag to court the person who shared the clip and “defamed” him. Minutes after Kokate's warning, Pawar posted that the minister was lying and underlined that he was playing the online game while the proceedings were going on. “Here is the video where one can clearly hear the discussion about giving dairy animals to tribals. Instead of participating, the minister was playing the game online,” Pawar said as he posted the two videos. The NCP(SP) leader said the videos prove that Kokate was lying as he was not seen skipping an advertisement that had popped up – the minister had claimed so – but playing the card game while sitting inside the House. On Monday night, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis disapproved of Kokate's behaviour in the legislature. “Sometimes you have to sit inside the House to listen to others. Even though he (Kokate) has explained that it was merely a pop-up window, I feel that whatever happened is not something to be proud of,” Fadnavis said. NCP state chief Sunil Tatkare said Kokate has been warned. “There have been other incidents involving him previously, and he has been warned in this case. (Deputy Chief Minister) Ajit Pawar will decide on the further course of action," Tatkare added. After the video emerged, Chhava Sanghatna activists protested before Tatkare which led NCP state youth president Suraj Chavan and other office-bearers to assault them. On Monday, Chavan resigned from his post in the wake of the incident.
