Pankaja Munde welcomes Dhananjay Munde’s resignation: ‘He shouldn’t have been inducted into cabinet’

“I feel he should have resigned long ago. But then it is better late than never,” she said. “I don’t want to get into the merits of the case. The investigation is underway. Those probing the case must know who is involved and to what extent.”

“I was here for an official event with Governor P C Radhakrishnan. I was not aware of what exactly happened in Mumbai. From the Instagram posts and media, I have learnt that Dhananjay Munde has resigned. I welcome the decision,” she added.

“Though Dhananjay and I are relatives, as an elected MLC and minister, I have taken the oath of office not to play partisan roles nor nepotism. We take an oath of giving justice to one and all irrespective of caste, community and religion. I was the first one to write a letter to the CM and demand the constitution of an SIT to probe the sarpanch killing in Beed district. As the younger sister of Dhananjay, I felt hurt as he had to go through all these upheavals. But then my question is why the higher-ups decided to make him a minister,” she added.

The cabinet expansion that gave Dhananjay Munde and 38 others from the three ruling parties—the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the NCP—ministerial berths took place in Nagpur on December 14, five days after Deshmukh’s murder, in which Munde’s close aide Walmik Karad was named as an accused. The sarpanch was abducted, tortured and killed.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his two deputies—Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar—took the oath of office on December 5 in Mumbai.

Pankaja Munde demanded that everyone involved in the killing of the Massejog sarpanch should get harsh punishment. “With folded hands, I apologise to Santosh Deshmukh’s mother and family members. And I demand quick justice and hard punishment for the perpetrators of the crime,” she said.

Munde said she had received a video about how the crime was committed. “But I must admit I do not have the courage to open the link and watch it,” she added.

“Today, just because of a handful of people’s involvement in the crime, the entire community has to bow its head in shame. The other community is furious with anger, which is understandable because of the nature of the crime,” she said, adding that the crime should not be perceived along caste lines.

Deshmukh belonged to the Maratha community and the accused in the murder case hail from the Vanjari nomadic tribe, an OBC sub-caste. The minister appealed to people from both communities not to foment hatred against each other.