The Maharashtra government has removed Manikrao Kokate from the Agriculture Ministry following outrage over a viral video that allegedly showed him playing online rummy during a Legislative Assembly session. He has been reassigned as the Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare, while Dattatray Bharne will now take over as the new Agriculture Minister.
The controversy erupted after NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Rohit Pawar shared a video clip showing Kokate allegedly playing an online rummy game during Assembly proceedings. The clip triggered political backlash, with opposition leaders slamming Kokate’s “insensitivity” at a time when Maharashtra is grappling with severe agrarian distress.
“Since the Nationalist faction in power cannot do anything without consulting the BJP, even with countless agricultural issues pending and eight farmers committing suicide daily in the state, the Agriculture Minister, with nothing else to do, seems to have time to play rummy,” MLA Rohit Panwar said in a post on X.
Kokate denied the allegations, claiming, “It was just for 10-15 seconds,” and said he was merely closing a pop-up, not playing a game. He also threatened legal action against those accusing him. However, a legislative probe found that Kokate had engaged with the game for 18 to 22 minutes—directly contradicting his defense, Rohit Pawar claimed.
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