In a late-night cabinet reshuffle, Maharashtra Minister and NCP MLA Manikrao Kokate has been removed from the agriculture ministry after a video of him playing an online rummy game during an assembly session went viral. The footage, reportedly captured during the recent monsoon session, showed Kokate engrossed in the game while seated in the legislative council. The clip was widely circulated by NCP (Sharad Pawar) leaders Rohit Pawar and Jitendra Awhad, sparking criticism and embarrassment for the government.
Following the controversy, Kokate has now been assigned the sports and youth welfare portfolio, in addition to the minority development and Auqaf departments, according to a notification issued by the General Administration Department on Thursday night. Dattatrey Bharne, who previously held the sports ministry, has taken charge as the new agriculture minister. Both Kokate and Bharne are MLAs from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, representing Sinnar in Nashik and Indapur in Pune, respectively.
This is not Kokate’s first brush with controversy. Earlier this year, he faced backlash for allegedly comparing farmers to beggars. His reassignment marks the second high-profile shuffle within the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP in recent months. In an earlier episode, Dhananjay Munde resigned from his ministerial post after his close aide, Walmik Karad, was named the prime accused in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case.
