3 months of charges, damning photos and a late-night meeting later, Dhananjay Munde resigns
CM Fadnavis calls on Ajit Pawar at his residence, urges that a decision on the NCP minister, whose close aide is named in a sarpanch’s murder, has to be taken at earliest
5 min read
Dhananjay Munde, the state food and civil supplies minister, is the NCP MLA from Parli in Beed district. (File)NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde resigned Tuesday after leaked photos showing allegedly the atrocities and torture inflicted on a Beed sarpanch before his murder proved the tipping point. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis drove down to hold a late-night meeting Monday with Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar, where the decision was taken in the presence of Munde.
Monday also marked the start of the first Budget Session of the new Mahayuti government, elected in November last year. Munde’s close association with one of the accused in Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s murder, who was chargesheeted just days earlier, was sure to come up in the House, along with the conviction of another NCP minister, Manikrao Kokate, in an old case.
The resignation of Munde will take some of the heat off the Fadnavis government, which has also been under pressure from within for the minister’s dismissal to ensure an “impartial probe” into the murder on December 9 last year.
The CID chargesheet naming Munde aide Walmik Karad, among others, was filed on February 27. Karad stands accused of trying to extort money from a power company, leading allegedly to an altercation with Deshmukh and his murder. Beed, under which Massajog falls, has long been a stronghold of the Munde family.
On Monday, several Marathi channels telecast photos allegedly showing how Deshmukh was tortured by a group before his death.
In a post on X after his resignation, Munde said he had been “deeply saddened” by the photos and cited ill-health as one of the reasons for stepping down. “It has been my firm demand since day one that the accused in the brutal murder of the late Santosh Deshmukh… should be given the strictest punishment. Seeing the photos that surfaced yesterday, I was deeply saddened,” Munde wrote.
He added: “The investigation into this matter has been completed and the chargesheet has been filed in court. Also, a judicial inquiry is proposed. With respect to my morality and as my health has not been good… the doctor has advised me to undergo treatment for the next few days. Therefore, also for medical reasons, I have submitted my resignation from the Cabinet.”
Ajit Pawar, confirming Munde’s resignation, also cited “morality” as the reason for the decision. Fadnavis announced Munde’s resignation as he entered the Assembly Tuesday, and rushed in without taking questions from the media.
While the Fadnavis government will hope that the resignation takes the sting out of the Opposition’s attacks, a Cabinet minister having to step down is a setback to the Mahayuti that had been on a high after the massive mandate it received less than three months ago. It may still have to take a call on Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate, another NCP minister, who has been convicted by a lower court in a case of forging documents to acquire houses meant for the economically weaker class, and is currently waiting for a higher court to hear his appeal.
The Deshmukh murder row has also flared up the existing Maratha-non Maratha tensions in Maharashtra politics. While Deshmukh was a Maratha, the accused belong to the OBC Vanjari community like Munde.
The Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar meeting on Monday night, at the latter’s official residence, lasted one-and-a-half hours. Sources said Munde was present along with other top NCP leaders. Fadnavis reportedly conveyed to the NCP that it needed to take a decision on Munde at the earliest.
According to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Maharashtra Police, which is probing Deshmukh’s murder, he was abducted and killed for trying to thwart attempts by the accused to extort money from a windmill company in Beed.
Those arrested and charged for the murder include Karad and seven others, including Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chate, Jayram Chate, Mahesh Kedar, Sudhir Sangle, Prateek Ghule and Siddharth Sonawane. All are in judicial custody. One accused, Krishna Andhale, remains at large.
The Opposition, which had been demanding action against Munde, on Tuesday said his resignation was not enough. Invoking the photos allegedly showing torture of Deshmukh, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said: “The government knew about it for months, but it never acted till today… The real need is to dismiss this government. Law and order has deteriorated… When the photos came out, the entire Maharashtra was stunned. The state has never seen such cruelty.”
Aaditya also wondered what had “tied Fadnavis’s hands”. “Why did he take so much time to ask Munde to resign?”
Calling Munde’s resignation “long overdue”, NCP (SP) leader and Beed MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar said: “Munde should be made a co-accused. Beed is on the boil. There is anger among the people. The accused should be hanged to death.”
Within the Mahayuti alliance, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, an OBC leader, said while Munde had resigned, “the big question is to find out how much of a role he played in the brutal murder”.
Suresh Dhas, a Maratha leader who was one of the most vocal voices against Munde despite being a BJP MLA, however, thanked Fadnavis for the minister’s resignation. “I was accused of speaking too much, but it is proved now that I was right.”
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