Minister whose kin was held in drugs case should be sacked: Shelar

Shelar must check the permissions given by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to the Cordelia cruise ship, pursue them and take this case to its logical end, the NCP leader said.

BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Saturday took a veiled swipe at the NCP's Nawab Malik, saying the ''minister whose son-in-law was arrested for possessing drugs'' must be sacked from the Maharashtra cabinet.

''Such ministers malign the image of Maharashtra,'' Shelar told reporters here, apparently referring to the arrest of Malik's son-in-law in a drugs case by the Narcotics Control Bureau earlier this year.

Notably, the court which gave bail to the state minority affairs minister's son-in-law Sameer Khan recently had observed that there was prima facie no evidence against him. Shelar was countering the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition leaders' accusation that the BJP was defaming Maharashtra.

The motto of the state government seemed to be ''I will not work, nor will I let others work,'' he said.

''Nobody should raise voice against corruption, nor present any evidence of it. No action will be taken against those arrested in drug cases, nor would anyone talk about the atrocities faced by women,'' the BJP leader said.

''And when such issues are brought to the fore, they say Maharashtra's image is getting maligned,'' he said, without naming anyone.

Nawab Malik later tweeted that being a legislator, Shelar should be aware of the respective roles and responsibilities of the state and Union governments. ''The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is headed by BJP leader Sarbananda Sonowal. All permissions for cruise ships are granted by the DG Shipping which comes under the Union ministry. There is no role or responsibility of the state government,'' he said, apparently referring to a recent drugs seizure on a cruise ship near Mumbai during which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan was arrested. ''Shelar must check the permissions given by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to the Cordelia cruise ship, pursue them and take this case to its logical end,'' the NCP leader said. PTI MR KRK KRK KRK

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