Nawab Malik had raised questions about the seizure of over Rs 300 crore drugs in Gujarat(FILE)
Gujarat minister Kiritsinh Rana and the ruling BJP on Thursday refuted Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik's allegations that Mr Rana was in touch with NCB witness KP Gosavi and other persons linked to the drugs-on-cruise case of Mumbai.
Mr Rana's cabinet colleague and Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi also attacked Mr Malik over the arrest of a man from Maharashtra's Thane town in connection the seizure of drugs in Gujarat's Devbhumi Dwarka district.
Addressing the media in Mumbai earlier in the day, Mr Malik also raised questions about the seizure of drugs worth over Rs 300 crore in Devbhumi Dwarka district and asked "is the drug game (racket) being run from Gujarat?"
The Gujarat Police have seized heroin and methamphetamine drugs worth Rs 313.25 crore from three persons in Devbhumi Dwarka district over the last two days, officials said.
The NCP leader alleged that people like Manish Bhanushali and Gosavi, both witnesses of the Narcotics Control Bureau in the cruise case, and one Sunil Patil, whose name has surfaced in connection with the drugs episode, used to visit Ahmedabad at regular intervals and Rana "is close to them".
Responding to these allegations, Mr Rana said, "I don't know any of the people (named by Malik). We are catching people (involved in drugs trade) in Gujarat, too. The law is equal for everyone and those who have done anything wrong will be punished."
Gujarat government spokesperson and Education Minister Jitu Vaghani took a strong exception to Malik's allegations, saying the Congress and the NCP can't digest the fact that people have given their blessings to the BJP.
"I challenge Malik to prove Rana's connection with those people. Our government and our party are ready for that. It is a well established fact that leaders of the Congress and the NCP are in the habit of levelling false and baseless allegations," said Mr Vaghani.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Sanghavi attacked Malik saying he should first investigate how a vegetable vendor from Thane, Sajjad Ghosi, was "running the drug racket without any fear".
Mr Ghosi, a resident of Mumbra in Thane district, was one of the three persons held by the Gujarat police in connection with the Rs 313-crore drugs seizure.
"Malik ji, you should first investigate how the drug mafia Sajjad managed to run this illegal trade without any fear from Mumbai and who was protecting him till now. I am proud of Gujarat police for seizing the drugs" Mr Sanghavi said in a tweet.
"Mafia Sajjad was ruining the life of Maharashtra youths by selling them drugs in the guise of vegetable business. Why are you worried about his arrest? You should be proud of Gujarat police for recovering the drugs before it reached Maharashtra," he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)