Why criminal charges have not been framed against Khadse?, asks Congress

New Delhi: Congress on Monday kept up its attack on Modi government on the Eknath Khadse issue wondering why criminal charges have not been framed against the former Maharashtra Minister who was forced to resign last week.

Seeking to puncture Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion of "zero tolerance against corruption", party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said it took three months for BJP to act against Khadse.

"Have criminal charges been framed against Shri Khadse? Modiji said he was going to fight corruption but it took three months to act against Shri Khadse and that only after many protests," Singhvi told reporters.

In Mumbai, Maharashtra Congress demanded Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis book the former Revenue Minister under stringent provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) over his alleged links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The party's Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam also termed as "mild" Fadnavis' decision to order a probe by a retired High Court judge into the allegations against Khadse.

Khadse, facing a string of allegations of graft in a land issue and purchase of a reserved land near Pune in the name of his kin at a throwaway price, resigned on Saturday.