The BJP on Monday sought to corner the Uddhav Thackeray government by repeatedly raising in the Lok Sabha the extortion allegations that former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh has levelled against Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.

BJP member Rajendra Agarwal, who was presiding over the House in the absence of the Covid-infected Speaker Om Birla, allowed five BJP members to raise the subject one by one during Zero Hour.

As they demanded the resignation of Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, Sena and Congress MPs protested, accusing the BJP of plotting to topple the state government.

The BJP’s Mumbai Northeast MP, Manoj Kotak, raised the issue first. He referred to Param Bir’s allegation that Deshmukh had instructed the now arrested Mumbai assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore every month from bars and restaurants.

“This is a very serious matter. It shows that those in the government were using officials to extort money from businessmen,” Kotak said.

“The home minister should resign, the Maharashtra government should resign and there should be a CBI probe.”

Agarwal then allowed another BJP member, Rakesh Singh from Madhya Pradesh, to raise the same subject.

“What was the compulsion of the chief minister to defend an API-rank official?” Singh asked, seeking to accuse Uddhav of involvement in corruption. He said the issue had national implications and demanded the state government’s resignation.

Singh and another BJP member who spoke after him, Kapil Patil, targeted NCP chief Sharad Pawar although they did not name him since he is not a member of the House.

After these three BJP members, Sena House leader Vinayak Raut was called to speak. He asserted that the controversy was part of a BJP design to defame and destabilise the Maharashtra government.

“For the last 14 months, they (the BJP) have been hatching a conspiracy. Even the central government is trying to destabilise the (Maharashtra) government,” Raut said.

He termed Param Bir the “most corrupt police officer”.

The Congress’s new House leader, Ravneet Singh Bittu, said the allegations against Deshmukh were serious, but he also questioned the Centre’s intention and accused it of trying to topple the Maharashtra government.

“Why do central agencies interfere in Opposition-ruled states only?” he asked, opposing the BJP demand for a CBI probe.

“Maharashtra will not accept central agency interference. You want to topple the Maharashtra government after MP (Madhya Pradesh).”

Two more BJP members – P.P. Chaudhary and Poonam Mahajan -- were later allowed to raise Param Bir’s allegations. They too demanded the resignation of the Maharashtra government.