Mumbai, Dec. 18 -- NCP leader Manikrao Kokate resigned from the post of Sports and Minority Development and Waqf Minister of Maharashtra after conviction in a 1995 cheating case. Maharashtra Governor Acharya Devvrat has allotted the portfolios to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday.

In an X post, Ajit Pawar announced Kokate's resignation and re-allotment of ministries, citing "constitutional morality and institutional integrity".

Pawar wrote, "Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and my party colleague Manikrao Kokate has submitted his resignation to me following the outcome of the Hon'ble Court's verdict. In keeping with our party's long-standing philosophy that the rule of law is supreme and above all individuals, the resignation has...