Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde in a spot as Beed murder sparks storm

Dhananjay Munde, a political veteran with nearly three decades of experience, faces the biggest crisis of his career, with the murder of a sarpanch in Beed thrusting the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader into the eye of the storm.

Calls for his resignation as Maharashtra’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister are coming not only from the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) but also from the ruling MahaYuti.

The pressure is mounting, given his close ties with both Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM and NCP president Ajit Pawar.

A grassroots worker with mass appeal, Dhananjay has been excluded from the list of guardian ministers — his first major setback in the new government.

Brutal murder

Santosh Deshmukh, the three-time sarpanch of Massajog village of Beed, was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9, 2024.

Dhananjay’s close aide Valmik Karad became the centre of controversy as his name surfaced during the probe into a Rs 2-crore extortion bid from a windmill company — an incident linked to the murder.

Weeks later, Karad surrendered before the state CID in Pune and has now been booked under the draconian Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. However, he has not been arrested in the murder case.

NCP (SP)’s Beed MP Bajrang Sonawane, BJP MLA Suresh Dhas, NCP (SP) MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar, and NCP MLA Prakash Solanke are demanding Dhananjay’s resignation.

Dhananjay has ruled it out. “Why should I resign? I am in no way involved in the murder or extortion cases. Police are probing the matter,” he said.

Dhananjay is the nephew of the late Gopinath Munde, the BJP stalwart and former deputy CM. Dhananjay’s cousin and BJP MLC Pankaja Munde is the state Environment, Climate Change and Animal Husbandry Minister.

Dhananjay rose to prominence in his early twenties as the president of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha. In 2012, he joined the undivided NCP led by Sharad Pawar, with Ajit Pawar ensuring his entry.

In 2019, he defeated Pankaja from Parli and established control over the seat. He was the first to side with Ajit Pawar in forming a government with Fadnavis in November 2019.

He served as a minister in the Uddhav-led MVA government and the Shinde-led MahaYuti dispensation.