Online rummy row: Maha minister seeks probe, says will resign if found guilty

Nashik, July 22 (IANS) Amid chorus for his resignation from opposition and farmer organisations after a purported video of playing rummy in the legislature went viral, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate on Tuesday denied the allegations and demanded a thorough probe into the matter. He said he will resign if found guilty and also threatened to file a defamation case against those who were levelling the allegations.

He said he will write letters to the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Council Chairman and Assembly Speaker requesting them to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter.

“Conduct investigation based on my letter. If I am found guilty of playing rummy, then the chief minister and deputy chief minister make a statement in this regard during the winter session in Nagpur. I will go to the Governor and submit my resignation without waiting for a second,” he said.

In his explanation, Kokate downplayed the controversy, saying that it was a small issue (about his video playing rummy). “Why has this issue been discussed so long? I don’t know. Do you know about online rummy? It requires linking a bank account. I have no such mobile number and bank account linked to the online rummy app. Inquire anywhere. Since the day online rummy started, I have not played rummy worth one rupee. In fact, I cannot play rummy at all. Therefore, the accusations against me are baseless. Due to these allegations, I have been defamed and discredited. I will not rest until I take to court those who have defamed me by making such baseless allegations,” he said.

Kokate further said, “I was in the state council that day. I had work to do. If I want information from my OSD, I have to send an SMS or call him. They do not come into the council. For that, I had asked for a mobile phone. When I opened the mobile phone, that game came up on the screen. I could not skip it. Since that mobile phone was new to me, it took me time to skip the game. But the video of me skipping the game did not reach you; you did not show it. Not only does one game come up on the mobile phone, but different games also come up. You cannot skip a 30-second game. My video is 11 seconds long. The accusations and counter-accusations started from that.”

He added that if the full video is shown, then it would make things clear that there is no truth in the allegations made against him. He said he does not want to go into who made the video as the Assembly Speaker will investigate it.

He reiterated that there was nothing in it which would hurt the feelings of the farmers and the farmers' organisation Chhava Sanghatana (it has demanded his resignation for his apathy towards farmers).

“I did not do anything crazy. Things that have nothing to do with farmers were shown. Check the CDRs of the guilty. Let whoever took part come forward,” he commented.

Kokate held the press conference a day after the state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare expressed displeasure over the incident, hinting that the party chief will take action against Kokate.

Further, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis clearly said that Kokate made a mistake and dismissed his clarification. “When a serious discussion was ongoing in the State Assembly, it is unacceptable that the minister was caught playing Junglee Rummy. We have to acknowledge that Kokate has done wrong. Ministers or MLAs should be seen reading papers and documents in the House. A minister playing online rummy during a session is not acceptable to us, and his clarification is also not convincing,” he said.

--IANS

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