Amid demands for his resignation over Beed murder case, Dhananjay Munde leaves Cabinet meeting mid-way

“I will not comment about demands of my resignation. She (Anjali Damania) has met Ajit Pawar with papers. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar can speak on this,” said the Maharashtra Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister.

The Maharashtra minister was referring to activist Anjali Damania who met Ajit Pawar Monday night, and reportedly presented him with evidence against Munde. Damania has demanded Munde’s resignation from the state cabinet and may approach the court over the issue.

Before the Cabinet meeting, Fadnavis and Pawar met, and according to sources, they discussed the issue of Dhananjay Munde. Fadnavis will visit the Beed district on February 5.

While Munde did not attend the full Cabinet meeting and left immediately, his office said, “The agenda was very short and there were no other important points on the agenda. Therefore, he left. All speculations about him being unhappy or told about resignation are false”.

On Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Suresh Dhas, who has been raising the issue of Deshmukh’s murder for over a month, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. While he has accused Walmik Karad of being complacent in the murder of Massajog sarpanch, he has not named Munde.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Dhas said, “I have not demanded the resignation of Dhananjay Munde yet. Moreover, why should our chief minister be asked about Munde’s removal from cabinet? He is from the NCP and it is the responsibility of NCP president Ajit Pawar to decide about this”.

Other than Walmik Karad, seven others have been arrested in connection with the murder of Santosh Deshmukh on December 9. Deshmukh was murdered reportedly for trying to thwart an extortion attempt from a windmill company by the accused.