India, Dec. 18 -- Time could be running out for Manikrao Kokate, a politician with an almost enviable knack for stirring controversies - and surviving them.

After demeaning his office, insulting farmers, and playing online card games while the House was in session, the NCP leader and the state's sports and youth welfare minister was stripped of his portfolio on Wednesday after a Nashik court issued an arrest warrant against him.

Kokate and his brother have been charged with cheating and forgery to secure flats under the government's EWS quota. The warrant was issued after the Sessions Court upheld the lower court's verdict, sentencing Kokate to two years' imprisonment.

A loose cannon, who flaunted what he believed was political immunit...