Ajit Pawar's trusted aide with grassroots appeal: Dhananjay Munde is no stranger to controversy

Mumbai: The road ahead for Dhananjay Munde is now full of challenges. 

Having resigned as the state’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister, Munde (49), who also faces health issues, will perhaps have to wait for some time to make a comeback.

Besides, the proverbial Sword of Damocles also hangs over him as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi in full force and even as a section of the ruling Maha Yuti-NDA are demanding that Munde be booked in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case. 

This is the biggest crisis that the NCP leader is facing.

Popularly known as Dhanu Bhau  by his followers and DM among close friends, Munde is a grassroots worker with mass appeal and a powerful orator. 

Dhananjay’s close aide Walmik Karad, who is known as his Man Friday has been named as prime accused in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case and  a Rs two crore extortion bid from a windmill company.

Dhananjay is son of late Pandit Anna Munde, who was active in Beed politics  and nephew of late Gopinath Munde, the BJP stalwart  and former Deputy Chief Minister.  

Dhananjay’s cousin and BJP MLC Pankaja Munde, who is the state’s Environment, Climate Change and Animal Husbandry Minister.

The Mundes hail from the Vanjari-OBC community - a powerful and politically influential bloc. 

Munde learnt the first lessons of politics from his uncle, who called the shots for BJP in Maharashtra along with late Pramod Mahajan. In his early twenties itself, Munde has shot into limelight and became the President of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He entered the Beed Zilla Parishad and became the Vice President as well. 

The BJP made Dhananjay an MLC, however, Gopinath Munde in 2009 fielded his daughter Pankaja from Parli. 

In 2012, he revolted and joined the undivided NCP led by Sharad Pawar. Though Pawar was not keen, Ajit Pawar ensured his entry. The NCP too made him an MLC and rose to become Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. 

In 2019, he defeated Pankaja, the then Rural Development Minister,  from Parli and established control over the seat. 

He was the first one to side with Ajit Pawar when he attempted to form a government with Fadnavis in November 2019.

Eventually he became the Social Justice Minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government and then the Agriculture Minister in the Eknath Shinde-led MahaYuti dispensation. 

Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Munde cousins patched up. The BJP, however, replaced Dr Pritam Munde and offered the Lok Sabha ticket from Beed to Pankaja, who lost the polls owing to the Maratha reservation issue and the OBC resistance. However, Dhananjay won the Vidhan Sabha polls by a handsome margin. 

Dhananjay’s personal life too had been under scrutiny. 

Munde is married to Rajshri Munde and they have three kids.

However, Dhananjay was accused of rape by a Mumbai-based singer Renu Sharma, with whose sister Karuna Sharma he had a long relationship and sired two children. Renu, however, withdrew the complaint.