Mumbai: The alleged murder of a Beed district sarpanch last month has sparked tensions within the Mahayuti, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Suresh Dhas joining the Opposition’s chorus demanding minister Dhananjay Munde’s resignation over the incident.
Dhas, an MLA from Ashti in Beed district, joined an all-party delegation to meet Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan Monday to demand the resignation of Munde, a minister from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The Opposition has been calling for Munde’s resignation due to his links with Walmik Karad, known to be the minister’s close confidante and Man Friday. Karad is being investigated for any links to the death of Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in the Kaij taluka of Beed. He is currently in jail in connection with a Rs 2 crore extortion case, with Deshmukh’s family alleging that the sarpanch was trying to put an end to the racket.
Monday’s delegation comprised leaders such as former MP Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje, Ambadas Danve from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Congress MLC Vijay Wadettiwar, and MP Bajrang Sonawane from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, among others.
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Dhas was the only leader from a Mahayuti party to join the delegation. The Mahayuti includes the BJP, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Dhas said, “Like a common minimum programme, we had a common subject, that the investigation should not be influenced. Shri Dhananjay Munde should be asked to resign or he should be asked to be a minister without a portfolio till a chargesheet is filed in the case. This team is also trying to meet CM Devendra Fadnavis in this regard.”
On Sunday, speaking at a rally in Beed, Dhas had alleged that meetings were held at Munde’s residence in the district to cut extortion deals.
Walmik Karad has been named as an accused in a case for allegedly extorting Rs 2 crore from a windmill company in Beed district. Munde, an MLA from Parli in Beed district, holds the food and civil supplies portfolio. Last week, Munde had while speaking to reporters dismissed all allegations against himself and said that there was no need for him to resign.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule said Dhas should not have directly made a public statement.
“I have told Suresh Dhas a couple of times. Devendra ji (Devendra Fadnavis) will also speak to him, any stand needs to be put up first within the party or before the government. It is another thing if the government doesn’t take action. But in the Beed case, Devendra ji has taken all measures for a thorough investigation,” Bawankule said.
Dhas meanwhile told reporters, “I am not a karyakarta who will go against what Bawankule saheb has said, but this issue has hit me hard. I am only talking about the incident. I don’t know what is happening. The way Santosh was killed. Till the accused are definitely punished, I will speak on it.”
Dhas said Deshmukh was a booth pramukh of the BJP.
On Saturday, Dhas had also in a veiled taunt at Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar blamed him for inducting Munde in the cabinet. Reacting sharply, Suraj Chavan, a leader from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Sunday said Dhas was deliberately politicising the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, asking if he does not have faith in the state home minister, a post held by CM Fadnavis himself.
“Fadnavis sir, I request you to restrain Suresh Anna Dhas. He is only trying to throw salt in the Mahayuti,” Chavan said.
Also Read: With links to extortion accused & ‘mini-Pakistan’ jibe, 2 Mahayuti ministers put Fadnavis in a spot
Dhas vs Munde
Dhas is known to have once been a protégé of late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, Dhananjay Munde’s uncle. He, however, joined the NCP in 2009 and became a minister of state for revenue in the former Congress-NCP government.
In 2014, the NCP pitted Dhas against Gopinath Munde as a candidate of the undivided NCP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Gopinath Munde won.
In 2017, Dhas was expelled from the NCP for anti-party activities for allegedly working for the BJP in a Zilla Parishad election.
In 2013, Dhananjay Munde had decided to defect from the BJP to the NCP after his uncle Gopinath Munde picked his daughter Pankaja to be his successor from the assembly seat of Parli. Dhas is said to have been disillusioned by Dhananjay Munde’s growth within the NCP in Beed district.
Dhas has had conflicts with the Munde family within the BJP too. After the assembly poll in November last year, Dhas had blamed Pankaja Munde and her two assistants for allegedly conspiring for his defeat.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
