NCP drops minister Vijaykumar Gavit from Maha cabinet as daughter joins BJP

Vijaykumar Gavit

NCP on Tuesday sacked Vijaykumar Gavit, a senior minister in the Maharashtra cabinet whose daughter has joined BJP and got the Lok Sabha ticket from Nandurbar in north Maharashtra.

"Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar conveyed it to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan that Vijaykumar Gavit be dropped, and Chavan forwarded the recommendation to the Governor," a source told PTI this evening.

Pawar had earlier warned Gavit, the Medical Education Minister, after reports came that his daughter, Heena Gavit, was likely to join BJP.

Maharashtra's Medical Education Minister Vijaykumar Gavit. File Pic

"If his daughter joins BJP, I, as the leader of the NCP parliamentary party, will write to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to dismiss him immediately, and remove him from the primary membership of the party," he had said.

Gavit had helped the NCP grow in the tribal district of Nandurbar, once a Congress stronghold. His brother Sharad Gavit is an independent MLA.

The parliamentary seat is currently represented by former Union minister Manikrao Gavit of Congress.

A few months ago, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had asked for the state government's sanction to prosecute Vijaykumar Gavit in a scam. While 49 others were prosecuted, Gavit was left out after the Cabinet rejected the demand.