Nagpur: Congress leader Ashish Deshmukh has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, demanding dismissal of party minister Sunil Kedar from the State Cabinet.
Alleging that Kedar got his lawyer-friend — head of the State Congress legal cell — appointed as the government pleader in a case in which he was an accused, Deshmukh, in his letter dated August 22, said it amounted to “conflict of interest” and should not be allowed to fight the case. The letter added that this was done “with an aim to not plead his case strongly to make it possible for him to get acquitted”.
Deshmukh demanded cancellation of the lawyer’s appointment as government pleader in the case and dismissal of Kedar from the State Cabinet.
He said Congress leader Kedar and 10 others were accused in a case of alleged irregularities of about ₹150 crore in the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank in 2002.
The hearing in the case was now in the last stage and Kedar, citing various reasons in court, was delaying the case since 19 years, claimed Deshmukh, whose party currently shares power with the Shiv Sena and NCP in the State.
