Dhananjay Munde resigns as Maharashtra minister amid row over Beed sarpanch murder

NCP leader Dhananjay Munde resigned as a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday. (PTI/File)

Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde on Tuesday resigned as a minister in the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet. Munde held the portfolios of food and civil supplies and was apparently asked to step down on the instructions of the Chief Minister after his aide Walmik Karad was arrested for his alleged role in the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed.

"This morning, I received the resignation letter from Dhananjay Munde as a minister. I have accepted his resignation and sent it to the Governor's office for further action," CM Fadnavis said speaking to reporters.

The resignation comes in the wake of Munde’s close aide Walmik Karad being named as an accused in the murder of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. On Monday, Chief Minister Fadnavis held a late-night meeting with Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar and other senior NCP leaders, including Munde, to discuss the issue.

The Opposition has been demanding that Munde resign as minister after photos and court chargesheet details, revealing the brutalities committed before the murder, surfaced.

Munde, 49, is an MLA from Ajit Pawar's NCP and represents Beed's Parli seat in the Maharashtra Assembly. The nephew of BJP veteran late Gopinath Munde, he is a cousin of Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde.

He joined the NCP in 2013 following a split in the Sharad Pawar-led party in 2023 and sided with Ajit Pawar. In the past, he has served as Leader of the Opposition in the legislative council and as a state minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government.

Besides serving as the legislator from Parli, Munde was also Beed district's guardian minister, a fact that drew increased criticism from the Opposition over the NCP leader's relations with the accused in the sarpanch's murder.