‘Rummy’ row: Maharashtra NCP minister Manikrao Kokate loses agriculture portfolio, given sports activities; accused of playing online game in legislative council | India News

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra NCP minister Manikrao Kokate, who was accused of playing “rummy” on his telephone in legislative council, was faraway from the submit of state agricultural minister. He has been appointed because the sports activities minister of the state.The controversy erupted after MLA Rohit Pawar uploaded two movies on his X deal with claiming the minister was playing online video games throughout a House session.The minister had dismissed the allegations saying, “I was in the Upper House and wanted to know what was going on in the Lower House. Therefore, I opened my mobile, but an advertisement for an online gaming app popped up. I tried to skip it a couple of times, but could not. Finally, on the third attempt, it got skipped. The MLA chose to show only the part that suited him instead of showing the complete video.”He additional stated that if the entire video had been proven, it could have been clear that he was trying to skip an commercial that appeared on his cellphone at the moment. Kokate added he had no feedback on why the MLA selected to submit the video on social media. “He is perhaps entertaining himself. That’s all I can say. I don’t know what he wanted to convey with this message by displaying the video, which does not make sense. It is a completely irrelevant video, and I am sure the knowledgeable voters will understand that it is just an exercise to defame govt that is doing good work,” he stated.