On Tuesday, it suffered a decisive crash as Munde, now a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led state cabinet, resigned amid the Opposition’s clamour for action after his close aide, Walmik Karad, was charge-sheeted for the death of the BJP sarpanch in Munde’s home district of Beed. Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of the Massajog village in Beed, was allegedly killed on 9 December last year.
Forty-nine-year-old Munde, an MLA from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), holding the food, civil supplies and consumer protection portfolios, attributed his resignation to his ill health. He also said that some graphic photos of the alleged murder of Santosh Deshmukh—which went viral on social media platforms Monday—“deeply troubled” his mind.
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who had until now shielded Munde by saying there was no need for him to resign until there was evidence of his involvement in the sarpanch murder, on Tuesday said Munde quit the cabinet “out of morality.”
An NCP leader close to Ajit Pawar told ThePrint last month that the constant demands for Munde’s resignation since the Massajog killing had put the party in a spot.
“But, it is ultimately a game of numbers. Ajit Dada was shielding Dhananjay Munde as he did not want our party to be one leader short in the cabinet for the balance of power between the Mahayuti parties. We needed to keep as many strong leaders with influence in key pockets with us as possible,” the leader said.
Munde, nephew of late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, built a pocket of influence for the NCP in Marathwada’s Beed district, helping the party strengthen its hold in the area. Moreover, he was among the few leaders in the Ajit Pawar-led NCP from the Other Backward Classes.
While he has stirred ample controversies, party leaders often overlooked his chequered life, given the political returns he could bring from his pocket of influence.
However, this time, the Deshmukh murder and Munde’s confidante Karad’s arrest in the case hit the very nerve centre of his pocket, causing a wave of protests in the Beed district against Dhananjay Munde.
After Munde’s resignation, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP issued a two-page note, stating that the party condemned Deshmukh’s killing but emphasising that no evidence against Munde had surfaced yet.
“Dhananjay Munde decided to resign out of morality as a responsible political leader,” the note said, adding that Ajit Pawar had set the example of resigning “out of morality”.
Facing graft allegations related to irrigation projects, Pawar resigned as deputy CM in 2012.
Also Read: Thackerays have a plan to whip up support before civic polls. It starts on Shinde’s home turf
The rise of the nephew
Maharashtra politics is famous for its uncle-nephew feuds, and Dhananjay Munde is a product of that trend.
Dhananjay Munde quit the BJP in 2013 after it was clear that his uncle, Gopinath Munde, intended to pass on his political legacy to his daughters, Pritam and Pankaja. Dhananjay joined the undivided NCP and later backed Ajit Pawar, another nephew fighting with his uncle, Sharad Pawar, in one of the most prolific uncle-nephew tussles in the state.
Dhananjay Munde was part of the Ajit Pawar rebellions in 2019 and 2023 when some MLAs under Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti government.
However, the political fortunes of Dhananjay Munde had started soaring much before that. He helped the NCP grow in the bastion of Gopinath Munde, who had cultivated a following for the BJP.
In 2014, Dhananjay Munde became the Leader of Opposition of the state legislative council. He fiercely took on his cousin Pankaja, who was a minister in the then Fadnavis government, especially when she was facing allegations of irregularities in awarding contracts worth Rs 206 crore for the supply of chikkis to anganwadis.
The Opposition, with Dhananjay Munde prominently in the lead, printed and distributed boxes titled ‘Panku chikki’ in the legislature as props to protest against the BJP and demand the resignation of Pankaja. Pankaja, in her response at the time, expressed hurt that her cousin used her pet name in their household to taunt her on a political platform.
In 2019, Dhananjay Munde defeated Pankaja in the former constituency of her father—Parli, Beed district. In 2024, he held onto the seat.
In the last two years, after the Ajit Pawar-led NCP joined the Mahayuti, putting both the Munde cousins on the same side of the political spectrum, there have been signs of the two cousins working together and repairing relations.
On Tuesday, Pankaja, a minister in the Fadnavis-led Mahayuti cabinet, welcomed the resignation of her brother, saying it should have come much earlier. She, however, did not comment on the allegations of his involvement in the murder case, saying that only the investigative agencies knew what happened and there was no reason for her to comment on it.
“He (Dhananjay Munde) should have also offered it much earlier, and those seeking the resignation should have also sought it from before. He should not have been, in the first place, sworn in as a minister,” the BJP MLC said.
Fadnavis expanded his cabinet beyond his two deputies on 15 December last year, six days after the death of the Massajog sarpanch, inducting Dhananjay Munde in his cabinet.
“Any sister, mother, or family member does not want their kin to pass through this sorrow. But, when we sit on the chair and think—in the state—we have to treat everyone the same, this is not a big decision, given the torment his (Santosh Deshmukh’s) family has gone through. Dhananjay Munde’s decision to resign is appropriate. I welcome it,” she added.
Suresh Dhas, a BJP MLA from Ashti in Beed, was also at the forefront of the protests against Munde, demanding his resignation. Dhas was once a protege of Gopinath Munde. He, however, joined the undivided NCP in 2009 and became a minister of state for revenue in the former Congress-NCP government. In 2017, the NCP expelled Dhas for anti-party activities for allegedly working for the BJP in a Zilla Parishad election. Dhas, it is said, was disillusioned with Dhananjay Munde’s growing clout within the NCP.
Dhananjay Munde became a state cabinet minister for the first time in 2019 when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of the Congress, the undivided Shiv Sena and undivided NCP, came to power. A staunch supporter of Ajit Pawar, he was also part of the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti cabinet after the NCP split up and took oath as a minister for the third time in December 2024 as part of the Fadnavis cabinet.
Personal and political controversies
The controversy that has landed Dhananjay Munde in trouble this time relates to his association with Walmik Karad, the person named as the mastermind in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case.
Karad, known as Dhananjay Munde’s ‘Man Friday’, steered his entire election campaign in the state polls last year.
After Karad’s arrest, Opposition leaders enthusiastically shared a video clip from one of Pankaja Munde’s speeches, where she is heard saying, “Where is Walmik Karad, without whom Dhananjay Munde cannot function?”
An NCP leader who did not wish to be named told ThePrint in January this year that Karad was a former house help at the house of Gopinath Munde, gradually earning his trust. He also grew close to Pandit Anna Munde, Gopinath Munde’s brother and Dhananjay Munde’s father.
When Dhananjay Munde walked out of the BJP and joined the NCP in 2013, Karad followed suit.
Over the years, the clout of Karad, backed by the Munde family, surged in the Beed district. He first became a corporator in 2001 and later rose to the ranks of a deputy president of the Parli municipal council and then president.
In his previous two stints as minister, Dhananjay Munde had also courted controversy.
As a minister in the Thackeray-led MVA government, he faced allegations of sexual harassment, which the complainant later took back. While Munde denied the charge, the entire episode led the minister to reveal that he was in a consensual relationship with the sister of the complainant and had two children with her.
He said his family, wife and friends knew of the relationship and accepted the children, who carried the Munde family name.
In the Mahayuti government, Dhananjay Munde, then the agriculture minister, had a skirmish with a civil servant in his department—who refused to implement some of his plans—with the official then transferred to another department.
This time, as the pressure on Dhananjay Munde to resign grew, the MLA, who used to vociferously demand the resignations of other ministers as the Leader of Opposition in the upper house until just a few years ago, grew oddly silent. He started skipping cabinet meetings and public appearances, too.
In a post on Facebook last month, he attributed his absences to a medical condition, Bell’s Palsy, which, he said, has weakened his facial muscles and impaired his ability to speak.
On Tuesday, when he resigned, Dhananjay Munde did not directly say anything, except for an ‘X’ post, which attributed his resignation to his health. Meanwhile, his two aides handed over his resignation letter to CM Devendra Fadnavis.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Amid Mahayuti discord, praise for Fadnavis from unlikely quarter: Sena (UBT) mouthpiece
