Beed sarpanch murder: Dhananjay Munde offers to resign

Amid opposition call for his resignation over the Beed sarpanch murder case, Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde on Wednesday said he is ready to quit if asked by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

Munde's close aide Walmik Karad has been arrested in an extortion case linked to the murder. Munde, 49, who belongs to the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, is now the Food and Civil Supplies minister.

Social activist Anjali Damania said she would file a Public Interest Litigation and make Fadnavis a respondent if the state government did not act against Munde within four days, while Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar working president Supriya Sule the NCP minister should quit on 'moral grounds'.

Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9, 2024, for allegedly trying to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy firm in Beed, Munde's home district.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Munde said, "If Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or Deputy CM Ajit Pawar 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."

Munde also dismissed the possibility of resigning from the cabinet on moral grounds.

"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," asserted the MLA from Parli.

Damania, who met Ajit Pawar two days ago, said she had given all necessary documentary evidence about Munde's 'nexus' with Karad.

"I have given the government an ultimatum of 96 hours....I will wait for four days...to see if action is taken against Munde. Else I will file a PIL and make chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy CM Ajit Pawar respondents and personally liable," she said.

She said she had provided evidence about alleged financial dealings of Karad and Munde and also about a firm in which they are partners getting a contract from a government company.

Sule said 50 days have passed after the gruesome murder, but despite fingers being pointed at Munde's close associate Karad, the NCP minister has not been sacked from the BJP-led government.

"NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh had resigned as home minister after allegations of Rs 100 crore bribe were levelled against him. Nawab Malik, Chhagan Bhujbal were arrested on hearsay allegations and put in jail," she said.

Bhujbal and Malik are with the NCP headed by Ajit Pawar.

Sule, MP from Baramati, claimed that even leaders of the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance want Munde to quit.

"I would have quit on moral grounds if I was a minister and my party was dominating headlines like this for 50 days. I would step back and tell my party that I am here to help the party grow and not to see my party harmed in such a manner," she said.

There was also an issue of 'office of profit' in Munde's case, Sule said, referring to allegations by Damania that Munde and his wife were partners in two firms that got a contract from MAHAGENCO, the state-owned power generation company, to take away fly ash generated by its thermal power plants.

'Sonia Gandhi had immediately resigned after facing office of profit allegations. She was not even a minister," Sule said, referring to the Congress leader quitting as a Lok Sabha member in 2006 after being accused of holding an office of profit by being chairperson of the National Advisory Council.

Bharatiya Janata Party minister and Dhananjay Munde's cousin Pankaja Munde met Ait Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday.

"I will be attending the meeting of the District Planning Development Committee (DPDC) in Beed tomorrow along with Ajit Dada," she told reporters.