MUMBAI, July 25 -- Controversial agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate has forced deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar to play his hand - ironically, over a card game. Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), will meet Kokate early next week, to ask the NCP minister to explain himself after he was allegedly caught playing rummy on his mobile phone while the legislature was in session. Kokate has denied being distracted by a game of rummy during house proceedings, claiming he was merely trying to close a pop-up that had appeared on his phone. Nevertheless, he will have to defend himself before Pawar, who will also quiz the minister on controversial statements he has made in recent times, despite being told to rein it in. NCP sources say that after he meets Kokate, Pawar will discuss the matter with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. This is the first time Pawar has held Kokate, NCP MLA from Nashik district, accountable. "The last time he did something like this, I told him to be careful. After the second incident, I warned him. Now, I will meet him either on Monday or Tuesday, to hear his side of the story and then take a call after discussing it with the chief minister," Pawar told the media on Thursday. The video of Kokate allegedly playing rummy on his phone in the legislative council went viral online, embarrassing the NCP. It prompted the opposition to slam Kokate, alleging that he was not serious about the problems of farmers. They have also demanded his dismissal. Senior NCP leaders said Pawar has two options: Either drop Kokate from his team of ministers or reassign him to a lower-profile department, as punishment. "A final call will be taken by Ajit dada in consultation with senior leaders before he meets Fadnavis," said a senior minister. NCP state president Sunil Tatkare has said Pawar will take the final call. Kokate's seemingly nonchalant attitude towards legislative proceedings has not sat well with Fadnavis, as it reflects poorly on the Mahayuti government. It gives the impression that the agriculture minister is indifferent to the plight of farmers, who are in distress, many choosing to die by suicide while drowning in debt. Fadnavis indicated his annoyance, when he snubbed Kokate on Monday. "It was absolutely wrong. Ministers are expected to take legislative business very seriously, even when their business is not on the agenda in the house," he said. Kokate further stoked the controversy when he referred to the state government as a "beggar", while earlier calling farmers beggars, in the context of a Rs.1 crop insurance scheme. "The point of that statement was that the government takes Rs.1 from farmers against insurance. It doesn't give them money, so the beggar in this case is the government, not the farmers. But my statement was twisted," said Kokate, a first-time minister and five-time NCP MLA from Sinnar assembly constituency in Nashik. On that occasion, Fadnavis remarked, "I didn't hear what he said but if he has said something like this, it is wrong," the chief minister said on Tuesday. However, there is a view in the NCP that the party leadership need not take any action against Kokate, who is given to making reckless statements. "Why must the NCP have to take the moral high ground among the three parties in the Mahayuti alliance," asked a senior leader. "Neither does the BJP, nor the Shiv Sena react to controversies involving their MLAs, even when the allegations faced by them are far more serious than those faced by our leaders," he said. He added that deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, for instance, had not taken any action against social justice minister Sanjay Shirsat, whose son was involved in a controversial auction of a hotel....