It was a choice lengthy within the making, with Dhananjay Munde’s destiny as Maharashtra Cupboard minister showing sealed since certainly one of his shut aides was implicated within the homicide of a sarpanch in Beed district.
On Tuesday, Munde submitted his resignation to the CM after months of stress from political and social organisations that had been demanding accountability for the homicide of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. The resignation comes a day after photographs of the homicide sufferer, which had been a part of the chargesheet, went viral. That turned out to be the ultimate blow for the Nationalist Congress Get together (NCP) chief, whose aide Walmik Karad is accused of orchestrating the crime.
Munde, who is likely one of the few NCP leaders from the Different Backward Lessons (OBCs), had turn out to be a burden for the Mahayuti alliance, particularly the BJP, because the deal with him had added to the simmering pressure between the Marathas and the Different Backward Lessons (OBCs) within the state. With this resignation, the BJP will hope that a few of that stress will ease. However because the scenario unfolds, a giant query is how the resignation will have an effect on the delicate alliances inside Maharashtra’s ruling coalition.
The 49-year-old Munde is a trusted lieutenant of Ajit Pawar and has been no stranger to controversies, each political and private, in his two-decade-long political profession. However this seems to be his most daunting problem but.
Born in Parli’s Nathra, Munde’s rise in Maharashtra politics was turbulent. Initially mentored by his uncle and BJP chief Gopinath Munde, Dhananjay entered politics as a celebration employee and was later appointed the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president in 2007. A talented orator, Dhananjay gained the belief of his uncle, managing the household’s political pursuits in Beed and overseeing Gopinath’s Meeting constituency in Parli. For a lot of, Dhananjay seemed to be the BJP chief’s “political inheritor”.
Nevertheless, the dynamic shifted in 2009 when Gopinath selected his daughter Pankaja to symbolize Parli within the Meeting. Whereas the BJP tried to placate Dhananjay by appointing him to the state Legislative Council in 2010, their relationship regularly soured.
The scenario worsened when Dhananjay insisted on appointing certainly one of his supporters because the president of the Parli Municipal Council, which Gopinath opposed amid accusations that he was changing into insecure about Dhananjay’s rising affect in Beed.
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With the BJP siding with Gopinath, Dhananjay switched to the Nationalist Congress Get together (NCP) in 2012, following his father Panditrao Munde who did the identical earlier that yr. In 2013, he formally resigned from the BJP and as an MLC and contested the 2014 Meeting polls from Parli in opposition to Pankaja on an NCP ticket. However he misplaced to her by greater than 25,000 votes. 5 years later, the tables turned and Dhananjay received by greater than 30,000 votes.
Near Ajit Pawar
Within the wake of the NCP’s break up in 2023, Dhananjay sided with the Ajit Pawar-led faction who aligned with the Mahayuti. In Meeting polls final yr, he retained Parli by over 1.4 lakh votes.
Dhananjay is likely one of the few OBC leaders within the NCP after Chaggan Bhujbal. His allegiance primarily lies with Ajit who introduced him over to the NCP. This relationship proved essential in his elevation because the Chief of Opposition within the state Legislative Council in December 2014, shortly after his loss within the 2014 polls.
Ajit is thought to have performed a key function in Dhananjay’s rise regardless of going through appreciable opposition inside the occasion. His insistence on getting Dhananjay on board was a part of a broader technique to construct up a brand new staff of non-Maratha leaders to offset the notion of the NCP being a Maratha-centric occasion.
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In November 2019, Dhananjay’s previous equations with the BJP propelled him into a major function throughout the state political disaster, when Ajit made a bid to kind the federal government together with the BJP. This alliance with the BJP, nonetheless, lasted only for three days. Although the experiment failed, which led to the formation of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) authorities, Dhananjay’s closeness to Ajit ensured his inclusion as a minister within the Uddhav authorities.
Dhananjay has at all times remained staunchly loyal to Ajit, even publicly criticising NCP founder Sharad Pawar when the latter rebelled in opposition to his uncle to separate the occasion, alleging, “Since 1978, his (Sharad Pawar) political profession has been certainly one of betrayal and treachery.”
Controversial determine
Nevertheless, Munde’s political profession has by no means been free from controversies. In Beed, many native politicians grew more and more disillusioned with Munde, particularly as he consolidated his energy within the area. BJP MLA Suresh Dhas who led the marketing campaign in opposition to him within the sarpanch homicide case is a former ally who fell out with Munde and was expelled from the NCP in 2017.
Many of the six BJP MLAs from Beed are in opposition to Dhananjay, publicly saying they didn’t need him because the district’s “guardian minister”. Sources stated such vehement opposition stems from the notion that Dhananjay has “tried to show Beed into his fiefdom” and favours the Vanjari neighborhood to which he belongs.
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Dhananjay’s private life has additionally not been freed from controversies. In 2021, a lady, who was reportedly his second spouse’s sister, accused him of rape, although she later withdrew the allegation. His second spouse has levelled a number of expenses in opposition to him over time, even resulting in her temporary imprisonment. Regardless of these scandals taking a toll on him, Dhananjay’s political place remained safe.
