Maharashtra Advocate General Shreehari Aney Submits Resignation To Governor

Mumbai: Maharashtra top legal officer Shreehari Aney submitted his resignation on Tuesday morning to Governor Vidyasagar Rao.

Mr Aney, sources say, was asked to step down after a furore in the state assembly over his controversial speech where he advocated separate statehood for Maharashtra's backward region of Marathwada.

On Sunday, while in Jalna, Mr Aney said that Marathwada bore more injustice than Vidarbha and should there be independent.

"Pressure has to be put at the Delhi level to form a separate step," the advocate general had said. The next day there was uproar in the House with ally Shiv Sena too joining ranks with the opposition and demanded action against Mr Aney.

The advocate general is the top legal officer who advises the government and defends the state in courts. The irony couldn't be missed as the government was struggling to defend him.

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Just a few months ago, Mr Aney had made another controversial comment by backing the demand for statehood for Vidarbha. Then, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had backed him.