Pankaja Gopinath Munde of BJP and Dhananjay Munde of NCP.
Credit: DH File Photo
Mumbai: Social activist and anti-corruption crusader Anjali Damania demanded that Maharashtra ministers Dhananjay Munde and Pankaja Munde must resign till the probe into the brutal murder of a village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed district was over. Anjali has been campaigning in Beed seeking justice for the victim.
The Munde cousins are under the scanner as Munde family aide Walmik Karad’s name cropped up in an extortion case linked to the murder.
Dhananjay is the state Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister, who is son of late Pandit Anna Munde.
Karad is a close aide of Dhananjay, who belongs to the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Pankaja, a BJP MLC and the state Environment, Climate Change and Animal Husbandry Minister, is daughter of late Gopinath Munde.
"The cousins (Pankaja and Dhananjay) have known Karad very well for years. So, they should resign till the investigation into Santosh Deshmukh murder case is over," said Damania, who was earlier associated with India Against Corruption and Aam Aadmi Party.
"They should be given back the ministerial charge if nothing is found in this case. But at this moment, they should resign," she said outside the Beed collector’s office, where she is holding a sit-in protest.
Damania claimed there was "solid evidence" of a financial relationship between Dhananjay and Karad.