Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh meets Uddhav Thackeray at CM's residence

Mumbai, Mar 23: In a recent development, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh met State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at his official Varsha residence on Tuesday evening amidst the extortion controversy surrounding the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader.

A meeting was held of the senior Congress leaders where they accepted that they can discuss the matter with the cabinet ministers.

Opposition BJP has given a call for Deshmukh's resignation on grounds of morality after former police commissioner Param Bir Singh's allegation that the home minister had set a target of Rs 100 crore extortion every month.

Even within the NCP, some are calling for Deshmukh to resign, however, party president Sharad Pawar has defended the home minister, though he accepted that the final call over the matter will lie with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

NCP state president Jayant Patil has however said that Deshmukh will not resign from his position.

Earlier today, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Uddhav Thackeray-led government has lost moral authority to govern. "Ruling coalition partners in Maharashtra don't know what is happening in state, who is the running government," the BJP leader said.