Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday denied ever having exerted pressure on State Election Commissioner Nand Lal over the delimitation exercise in his constituency and accused him of lying.
"The allegation by Nand Lal, that there was pressure from me for dereserving Latur constituency in the delimitation exercise, is baseless," Deshmukh said.
"I never exerted pressure on Nand Lal. He is lying," the Chief Minister said.
Deshmukh's remarks came after Nand Lal, who spent a night in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail, accused the CM of political vendetta.
Lal was sent to jail after the Maharashtra Assembly found him guilty of breach of privilege and sentenced the former Indian Administrative Service official to two-day simple custody.
Moments after he came out of the Arthur Road Jail, Nand Lal was back to his belligerent best, charging the Chief Minister with "exerting pressure through intermediaries to dereserve" Deshmukh's Latur constituency in Marathwada region.