Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar in a post on social media platform X said: “Creating a rift between two communities with hooliganism and using provocative language seems to have been the eligibility criteria for induction in the Mahayuti cabinet. Therefore it seems that there is a competition within the Mahayuti for leaders to prove their eligibility by making such statements from time to time.”
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The Mahayuti includes the BJP, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
In the case of both ministers, their respective parties have maintained a studied silence. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has not commented on the demand for Munde’s resignation.
Meanwhile, CM Devendra Fadnavis told reporters Tuesday: “I don’t want to get into the politics of it, but we will take strict action against all those who we find evidence against. There will be no pressure by anyone in the investigation. We will not tolerate hooliganism. For me, the most important task is to bring the accused behind Santosh Deshmukh’s murder to book.”
Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye did not respond to ThePrint’s calls regarding Rane’s statement.
Rane, an MLA from Kankavli in the Sindhudurg district, is a first-time minister, while Munde was a minister in the previous Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government as well as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government when the NCP was still undivided.
Both leaders, however, are no strangers to controversy.
Dhananjay Munde and his right-hand man
Dhananjay Munde, nephew of late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, holds the food, civil supplies and consumer protection portfolio in the Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government.
Karad, who surrendered before the Pune Criminal Intelligence Department Tuesday after being on the run for three weeks, is known to be Munde’s Man Friday and his alter ego. He is known to manage everything for the minister, right from his rallies and meetings to his election campaign.
Before Karad surrendered, he released to the media a video message saying the case of alleged extortion against him was false and that he was being targeted because of a political vendetta.
On 9 December, 45-year old Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Kaiz taluka of Beed, was murdered. His family had alleged Karad’s involvement in the murder, saying Deshmukh was killed because he tried to foil extortion attempts by people linked to the NCP.
Just before the murder, Karad was named as an accused in a case of alleged extortion of Rs 2 crore from a windmill company in Beed.
On Wednesday, a local court sent him to 14 days in police custody.
An NCP leader who did not wish to be named told ThePrint that Karad was a former house help at Gopinath Munde’s house and gradually earned the leader’s trust. He also grew to be 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, with the backing of the Munde family, Karad’s clout in the Beed district surged as he first became a corporator there in 2001. He has been the deputy president and president of the Parli municipal council and is currently a member of the Beed district planning and development committee, according to his social media profile.
Last week, Jitendra Awhad, MLA from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, shared a short video on social media of a speech by Dhananjay Munde’s cousin, Pankaja Munde. In the undated video, she is seen addressing a rally asking where Walmik Karad was in the crowd, describing him as “the person without whom Dhananjay Munde can’t function”.
On Tuesday, speaking to reporters, Awhad said: “Karad has been arrested but his superior is still out. In Maharashtra’s history, whenever allegations of wrongdoing have been brought against any sitting ministers, they have left the chair.”
On Saturday, there was a big protest in Beed to demand Karad’s arrest and Dhananjay Munde’s resignation.
In the past, Dhananjay Munde has been an asset to the undivided NCP, establishing its presence in the BJP stronghold of Beed in the Marathwada region. When the NCP split in 2023, Dhananjay Munde aligned with Ajit Pawar and joined the Mahayuti government.
He has, however, also put his party in an embarrassing spot previously.
As a minister in the Thackeray-led MVA government, Dhananjay Munde faced allegations of sexual harassment, which the complainant later took back. While Munde had denied the charge, the entire episode led the minister to reveal that he was in a consensual relationship with the complainant’s sister and had even had two children with her.
He said that his family, wife and friends were aware of the relationship and had accepted the children, who had been given 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. The official was transferred to another department.
Also Read: What sexual harassment case against Dhananjay Munde is, and its implications for NCP
Nitesh Rane, BJP’s Hindutva voice
On Sunday, Rane, addressing a rally in Pune district’s Purandar taluka, called Kerala a “mini-Pakistan”, saying that’s why Congress leaders such as Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi were getting elected from the state.
“All terrorists vote for them,” he said.
The Rane clan—father Narayan Rane, brother Nilesh as well as Nitesh himself—have often courted controversy.
The patriarch, Narayan Rane, has spoken of slapping a chief minister, was facing a case for allegedly abducting a Congress MLA, and last year said he would enter the houses of MVA workers and kill them during an altercation over the collapse of a statue of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Malvan in Sindhudurg.
His elder son, Nilesh Rane, has often used foul language while speaking about political opponents, while Nitesh has in a fit of rage flung a fish at one government official and thrown mud at another.
However, of late, Nitesh, who holds the fisheries portfolio in the Fadnavis cabinet, has become a shrill voice of the BJP. Sometimes the party distances itself from the MLA’s statements, calling them an individual leader’s remarks, and at other times it stays silent.
In September last year, Nitesh Rane had drawn criticism from his rivals for his remark about “entering mosques and hitting those inside”.
Between 2023 and now, Nitesh Rane attended several ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh’ rallies organised by the Sakal Hindu Samaj, an umbrella organisation of Hindutva outfits, making statements about Muslims that have led to him being booked for hate speech, and egging on Hindus to take the law into their own hands.
In January this year, speaking at such a rally in Solapur, Nitesh Rane told those gathered that they should not fear the police since “his boss stays in Sagar bungalow”. This was a reference to the official residence of Fadnavis, who was then deputy CM.
On his Kerala remark, Nitesh Rane, after facing a backlash, clarified that Kerala is very much a part of India and that he was only comparing the situation in the state to that in Pakistan.
“Kerala is very much part of India. However, the decreasing population of Hindus is something everyone should worry about. The religious conversion of Hindus into Muslims and Christians (Islam and Christianity) has become an everyday thing there. The love jihad cases where Hindu women are targeted are also increasing there…,” Nitesh Rane told the media.
Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, who represents Kerala’s Alapuzzha parliamentary seat, in a post on X said: “From time to time, the BJP deploys its hate-mongers to spew venom against Kerala. Using terms like ‘mini Pakistan’ shows they have deep-rooted animosity for the people of Kerala… if PM Modi has any shame about Mr Rane’s statements, he should sack him immediately.”
From time to time, the BJP deploys its hate mongers to spew venom against Kerala. Using terms like ‘Mini Pakistan’ shows they have deep-rooted animosity for the people of Kerala.
For the entire world, Kerala is a model state that has continuously topped the Human Development…
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) December 31, 2024
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: In Nitesh’s Hindutva twist to Rane clan’s brand of aggressive politics, an ‘unofficial’ BJP strategy
