The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will intensify its agitation across Maharashtra and will not relent until senior NCP minister Nawab Malik resigns, Opposition leader in the state assembly Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday. “Compromising with national security and welfare is out of question,” Fadnavis, who led the BJP's protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, added. Fadnavis and other leaders and activists were detained by the police at Yellow Gate but were later released. Fadnavis said, “The charges against Malik are serious. He struck land deal with Sardar Shahwali Khan, who is a convict in the 1993 serial bomb blast case. Malik held money transaction with Mohammad Salim Patel, front man of Haseena Parkar, who is the sister of Dawood Ibrahim.” Attacking the Shiv Sena, he said, “It is evident that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seems to have compromised Hindutva and national interest for power. How can Sena tolerate a minister who is linked with a bomb blast convict and Dawood Ibrahim?” State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said the MVA government has “buckled under Dawood Ibrahim.” Malik was arrested last month in a money laundering case.
