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Our Correspondent in Bombay
Five ministers have been asked to quit the state ministry by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
The ministers are Labour Minister Hussain Dalwai (Congress), Agriculture Minister Ranjit Deshmukh (Congress), Food and Civil Supplies Minister Data Meghe (NCP), Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies N P Hirani (NCP), and Excise Minister Vasant Chavan (NCP). All the five ministers are members of the legislative council.
Five MLAs will be sworn-in in their place by Thursday evening at the Raj Bhavan, it is reliably learnt.
However, when rediff.com contacted Ranjit Deshmukh in Sangli, he denied that he had quit the state cabinet.
"I will be reaching Bombay on Friday morning and I don't know about any such move," Deshmukh said.
Asked whether he heard the of the ministers' resignation, he said, "I have heard about it, but nobody has told me about it."
The new ministers are: Syed Salim (Congress), Rajesh Tope, Rajendra Shingne, Vijay Gavit, Hassan Mushrif (all of NCP).
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