Mumbai, Mar 26 (PTI) Maharashtra minister Narhari Zirwal has landed in a controversy after a video showing him with a transperson surfaced on social media, leading to calls for his sacking.
The minister, who belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party, claimed on Thursday that it was a doctored video and someone was trying to blackmail him.
The opposition Congress earlier in the day demanded that he should be sacked over his “obscene and unethical behaviour”.
The video showed Zirwal, Minister of Food and Drug Administration, in a compromising position with the transperson at his official residence, Congress leaders said, adding that it reflected the moral decline in Maharashtra’s politics.
Speaking to a Marathi news channel, Zirwal said the footage in the video was manipulated.
“It is an assembled video and leaked only with the intention of blackmailing….Nobody has asked for my resignation,” he said.
The minister, however, admitted that he knew the transperson seen in the video for the last five years.
“But someone who knows that person is behind this blackmailing,” he added.
Asked about liquor bottles seen in the video, Zirwal said he does not drink.
A tribal leader, Zirwal represents the Dindori assembly constituency in Nashik district.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar attributed the surfacing of the video to the tussle between the ruling allies in the BJP-led government.
“This is nothing but a gang war within the government where the ruling parties are trying to finish each other. This is not good for Maharashtra. We hang our heads in shame. Same is the case with (arrested self-styled godman) Ashok Kharat, who exploited so many women. All these developments are not good for Maharashtra,” he said.
The transperson’s brother allegedly made the video viral as part of a blackmail attempt, Wadettiwar claimed.
State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said the viral video was a “glaring example of moral degradation in Maharashtra’s politics.” “A responsible public representative, entrusted with people’s faith and taxpayers’ money, indulging in such obscene and unethical behaviour is extremely condemnable. This is not just a breach of personal boundaries, but a blot on public life,” he said in a social media post.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should immediately remove Zirwal from his cabinet, he added.
Activist Anjali Damania said a senior minister like Zirwal should have kept in mind the issues of propriety.
“It is clear that the video was shot and made viral with an intention to blackmail,” she said, and demanded a thorough probe.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Mumbai unit president Preeti Sharma Menon said, “Despite the viral obscene video of Zirwal, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has not taken any action against him. This is really a ‘kaliyug’ as sex offenders are our rulers.” Zirwal was in news last month after an official in his department was allegedly caught while taking a bribe.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau on February 12 caught FDA clerk Rajendra Dherange while allegedly accepting Rs 35,000 inside Mantralaya (state secretariat). Zirwal’s private secretary, Dr Ramdas Gade, was also relieved of his post and directed to report back to his parent department following a sting operation related to bribery. PTI ND VT PR NP KRK
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