Beed sarpanch murder: Under-fire Munde says ready to resign if asked by Fadnavis or deputy CM Ajit Pawar

Munde, a senior member of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), is facing heat since the kidnapping-murder of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed, the minister's home district, in December.

Mumbai: With options seems to be running out in the wake of criticism vis-a-vis the Beed Sarpanch murder case, senior NCP leader and minister Dhananjay Munde on Wednesday said that he would resign if asked by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Munde, who is the state’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister, is considered close to Fadnavis and Pawar.

Munde’s close aide Walmik Karad has been arrested in an extortion case linked to the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, a three-time Sarpanch of Massajog village in Parli tehsil of Beed district.

Munde’s statement came in New Delhi during his two-day official visit to the national capital after a series of meetings in Mumbai with Fadnavis, who is the state Home Minister and Pawar, who holds the Finance portfolio.

Incidentally Fadnavis too is in New Delhi for BJP’s campaign for the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections during which he would also meet the top brass of the BJP.

"If Fadnavis Saheb or Ajit Dada believe that I am guilty, they should ask for my resignation. I am ready to step down. It is for them to decide whether I am guilty or not. I have been targeted for the past 51 days,” said Munde.

“My morality is rooted in my honesty towards my people. I speak with complete sincerity. I do not consider myself morally guilty. If I am guilty, my senior leaders will tell me so,” he added.

On Tuesday, at a meeting of the NCP, Munde had said that he would go by the advice of the top brass.

Besides, social activist Anjali Damania too had met Pawar and submitted what she described as evidence against Munde and Karad vis-a-vis Beed.

Law-makers from Beed, cutting across party lines, have been demanding the resignation of Munde, who is an MLA from Parli. Munde’s detractors have been regularly meeting Fadnavis and Pawar - after which he had earlier remarked - “…when a person faces false allegations, imagine what would be happening to his school-going children? What would their classmates be telling them?..”