Overview

• A state legislature inquiry found Kokate played an online card game on his mobile phone for 18 to 22 minutes during a monsoon session debate, contradicting his claim of a brief ad pop-up.
• A late-night General Administration Department notification moved Kokate from the agriculture portfolio to sports, youth welfare, minority affairs, Auqaf; Dattatray Bharne was appointed agriculture minister.
• Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had expressed concern that ministerial controversies were harming the government’s image, increasing pressure for accountability within the Mahayuti coalition.
• Opposition leaders such as Rohit Pawar, Supriya Sule criticized the portfolio swap as a superficial fix; they pressed for Kokate’s resignation over his insensitivity toward farmers.
• Kokate’s past controversies include a stayed forgery conviction in a housing fraud case; he also faces scrutiny over remarks likening farmers to beggars under the Representation of the People Act.