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National Congress Party MLA Manikrao Kokate was removed from the position of Agriculture Minister following the rummy row on July 31, 2025. The Maharashtra minister was accused of playing an online rummy game on his phone during a legislative Assembly session. The controversy escalated after MLA Rohit Pawar posted two videos of Manikrao allegedly playing an online card game.

Manikrao Kokate has been appointed as the new Minister of Sports and Welfare after his removal from the post of Agriculture Minister. This swift decision was taken following a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar amid the rummy controversy surrounding Manikrao.

The minister has denied all the allegations and claimed that he was simply trying to close an advertisement for an online card game that popped up on his phone. “I was in the Upper House and wanted to know what was going on in the Lower House. Therefore, I opened my phone, but an advertisement for an online gaming app popped up,” said Kokate in his statement. He further explained that he tried to close the ad a couple of times but failed to do so and was only able to skip it on his third attempt.

He blamed MLA Rohit Pawar for showing only a snippet of the video, which misled viewers and sparked the controversy. He dismissed the video as irrelevant and stated that “knowledgeable voters” would understand Pawar’s attempt to defame a government that is doing good work. However, his denial was contradicted when Rohit Pawar claimed that the minister was seen playing the game for more than 18 minutes.

“The Agriculture Minister was not playing cards for 42 seconds but for 18 to 22 minutes. This is the report of the State Legislature, which has been submitted to the Chief Minister as well as the Deputy Chief Minister. Will the government clarify this?" Rohit Pawar wrote on his X account.

This is not the first controversy involving Manikrao Kokate. The minister previously faced intense backlash for his insensitive comments about the government’s crop insurance scheme for farmers, which he claimed was highly misinterpreted.

His comment was, “Nowadays, even beggars do not take a single rupee. However, we gave crop insurance to farmers for one rupee. Some people misused this scheme.”

This remark resulted in massive controversy. He later clarified, “The government takes one rupee from the farmers. But it does not give a single rupee to the farmers. The government takes money. So who is the beggar? The government is the beggar, not the farmers... My statement was misinterpreted.” [Rh/VS]

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