Chakankar's resignation forwarded to CM Fadnavis, says Sunetra Pawar

Vartha Bharati | 21-03-2026 | 18:24:00 IST

Rupali Chakankar speaking to the media. (PTI FILE)

Mumbai (PTI): NCP chief and Maharashtra deputy CM Sunetra Pawar on Saturday said she has forwarded Rupali Chakankar's resignation as state women's commission chairperson to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for acceptance.

Chakankar, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, on Friday tendered her resignation after facing flak from opposition parties over her association with rape-accused 'godman' Ashok Kharat.

Following a meeting with CM Fadnavis, who asked her to step down, she handed the resignation letter personally to Sunetra Pawar late in the evening.

"Chakankar has tendered her resignation considering the current circumstances and ongoing investigation. To ensure that the probe is conducted in a fair and transparent manner, I have forwarded her resignation to the Chief Minister for further process," Pawar said in a statement.

Appointed as chairperson of the Maharashtra State Women's Commission first in October 2021, Chakankar was given another three-year term in 2024.

Kharat, who heads a temple trust at Sinnar and had several political leaders visit him over the years, was arrested by Nashik Police on Wednesday for allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulting a woman.

As per the complainant, he called her to his office sometime in 2022 after her marriage, claiming that his astrological predictions point to a threat to her husband’s life and she needed to perform certain rituals to ward it off. He then gave her a sedative-laced drink and raped her, the woman alleged, claiming that he raped her multiple times over the next three years. 

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Odisha: BJD suspends 6 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls

21-03-2026 ¦ 21-03-2026 IST

Courtesy: PTI

Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.

The suspended legislators were Chakramani Kanhar of Baliguda seat, Naba Kishor Mallick of Jayadev constituency, Souvic Biswal of Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena of Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi of Tirtol and Devi Ranjan Tripathy of Banki, an order by party chief Naveen Patnaik showed.

The suspension decision was taken at the opposition party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting presided over by Patnaik.

The six MLAs were issued a show-cause notice on March 17.

They submitted their replies on Friday evening, and those were found not satisfactory, said the BJD's chief whip in the Assembly, Pramila Mallik.

The ruling BJP won two of the four Rajya Sabha seats while the opposition BJD and a saffron party-backed Independent candidate bagged one seat each in the biennial polls held last Monday.

While the total number of BJP legislators and Independent MLAs supporting the ruling party was 82 in the 147-member House, the saffron party candidates secured 93 first preference votes, which was 11 more than its strength in the Assembly.

Of these 11 votes, eight were of BJD MLAs and three of Congress legislators, an official had said.