India, Dec. 18 -- Maharashtra minister Manikrao Kokate, who was stripped of his portfolios following his conviction in a 1995 cheating and forgery case, on Thursday resigned from the council of ministers after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis put his foot down.

Kokate, who is admitted to a Bandra hospital, sent his resignation to his boss, deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar, on Thursday after Fadnavis told Pawar at a meeting that Kokate could not continue in the state cabinet in view of his conviction and a warrant issued for his arrest by a Nashik court.

Ajit Pawar announced Kokate's exit from the cabinet on X soon after.

"Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and my party colleague Shri Manikrao Kokate...