With the resignation of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Dhananjay Munde over the Beed sarpanch murder row, the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, may have heaved a sigh of relief. However, its troubles have hardly died down as the demand for the ouster of another NCP minister, Manikrao Kokate, continues to grow.
Last month, the Nashik district court convicted state Agriculture Minister Kokate to two years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him in a case of housing fraud. This means that within three months of the Mahayuti government taking charge, two of its Cabinet ministers have already landed in the dock, providing fodder for Opposition attacks.
Who is Manikrao Kokate?
A five-term MLA, Manikrao Kokate, 67, represents the Sinnar Assembly constituency in Nashik district. He was made the Agriculture Minister in the Mahayuti government considering his rural background and understanding of the sector.
Kokate has repeatedly hopped between parties. In the 2024 Assembly elections, he contested against the breakaway faction NCP(SP) candidate Uday Sangale and won comfortably, polling 56.93 per cent of the votes as opposed to Sangale’s 40.13 per cent.
In the 2019 Assembly polls, Kokate had contested for the undivided NCP from Sinnar and won, defeating Rajabhau Wagh of the undivided Shiv Sena.
Kokate started his political career with the Congress in the early 1990s. In 1999, he joined the newly formed NCP led by Sharad Pawar but was denied an Assembly ticket from Sinnar that year. He then joined Shiv Sena and won the election. In the subsequent polls in 2004, he won again as a Shiv Sena candidate.
In 2006, Kokate joined the Congress. In 2009, Kokate won the Assembly polls again from Sinnar as a Congress candidate. At the height of the Narendra Modi wave, he joined the right-wing party. He contested the seat again as a BJP candidate in 2014 but lost to Shiv Sena’s Rajabhau Waje.
Following this, he contested as an Independent from Nashik in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and lost again. Within six months, he joined the undivided NCP. In July 2023, he pledged support to the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar.
Despite his party-hopping nature, Kokate is a relatively low-profile politician whose poll affidavit describes him as a farmer. He completed his BSc and LLB from the University of Pune in 1984. Ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls, he declared assets worth Rs 48 crore and liabilities amounting to Rs 7 crore.
What is the housing fraud controversy?
On February 20, the Nashik district and sessions court sentenced Kokate to two years’ imprisonment over a case registered for his involvement in a 30-year-old document tampering and fraud case as per which he acquired a house in Nashik under the chief minister’s discretionary quota for low-income individuals.
Manikrao and his brother Vijay Kokate were accused of tampering with documents and cheating. Former minister Tukaram Dighole had filed the petition against the brothers in court.
The Kokate brothers were accused of showing lower income to buy houses under the 10 per cent government quota in 1995. The case was registered under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (preparing forged documents), 471 and 474 (concealing truth) of the Indian Penal Code.
Recently, Kokate also created a flutter with his controversial remark in Amaravati on farmers. Responding to corruption in the insurance scheme for farmers, Kokate told reporters on February 15, “Even beggars don’t take one rupee in alms. Here we are giving crop insurance for one rupee, and this too is being misused. There are instances of people from other states applying for insurance schemes meant for the state’s farmers.”
BJP’s reaction to the present crisis
Though the BJP has tried to distance itself from the recent developments, arguing that both Kokate and Dhananjay Munde belonged to the NCP, a senior leader admitted that the saffron party “also has to face the brunt because of its alliance partners.”
Officially, BJP minister Girish Mahajan said, “There was a delay in seeking Munde’s resignation because of the ongoing probe but he has now resigned.” Another BJP minister, Pankaja Munde, stated, “All these problems could have been avoided if Dhananjay Munde was not made a minister.”
Reflecting the opinion of a section of the BJP, one leader pointed out, “Our political strength weighs on the image of CM Devendra Fadnavis. As long as the BJP ministers conduct themselves properly, we feel reassured. Nevertheless, the chief minister has to take responsibility for how the government and its ministers across the coalition work. And here he has to make a strong decision. There is going to be no escape from morality.”
When it was in the Opposition, the BJP had aggressively campaigned against the Congress-NCP government over the Adarsh Housing Cooperative Society scam, both inside the Assembly and Council and on the streets, forcing the then Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan to resign.
Reacting to the recent developments, Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said, “The conduct of the government clearly shows that they were trying to cover up the wrongdoing to safeguard their image. Why else did they not sack Munde last month? In Kokate’s case, he should have been shown the door the day he was convicted.”
Sapkal said the BJP had earlier raised much hue and cry seeking the resignation of former NCP(SP) minister Anil Deshmukh and Congress minister Sunil Kedar.
While the BJP will have to live with questions both within the party and outside on political morality, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar seems to be headed for challenging times. After the dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls, where his party won just one seat, the NCP had gained a better foothold by winning 41 seats in the Assembly elections held last year.
In terms of numbers, the Fadnavis government, however, stands strong with 232 seats in the 288-member Assembly.
Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate (Express Photo By Ganesh Shirsekar) 
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