Who Is Dhananjay Munde, The Maharashtra Minister Asked To Resign By CM Fadnavis

Following accusations against his aide in a murder case, Maharashtra's Minister of Food and Consumer Protection Dhananjay Munde has resigned.

Dhananjay Munde has resigned as Maharashtra Minister.

Source : Twitter

Dhananjay Munde, the Maharashtra Minister of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection has announced his resignation on Tuesday. The recent development comes after his close aide Walmiki Karad was named as an accused in the Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case. Munde’s estranged wife, Karuna Sharma, had earlier claimed that senior leaders have sought his resignation, and it will be announced before the budget session of the state legislature. 

Who Is Dhananjay Munde?

Munde, the former Minister of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection in Maharashtra represents Parali constituency in the Assembly. He has served as a minister in three successive governments (MVA, Mahayuti, and Mahayuti 2.0), as well as Beed's guardian minister. Presently, NCP head Ajit Pawar is the guardian minister of Beed district along with Pune.

Dhananjay joined NCP as he believed that his uncle, Gopinath Munde, would not allow him to grow within the party. Keen on developing a strong non-Maratha leadership in Marathwada, both Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit encouraged Dhananjay. He was appointed to the state legislative council after the Congress-NCP lost power in 2014, and he was eventually appointed to the role of Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House.

A Look At Controversies

Munde has been embroiled in several controversies. In his stint as the agriculture minister in the Mahayuti government, he faced criticism for the removal of an agriculture secretary who denied certain development plans. Earlier, Renu Sharma, a singer, accused him of rape but later withdrew her allegations. Munde admitted that he was in a relationship with Renu’s sister Karuna.

Recently, he has approached a sessions court seeking to quash a metropolitan magistrate court’s order directing him to pay an interim monthly maintenance of Rs. 2 lakh to estranged first wife, Karuna Sharma, and their daughter, Shivani Munde. The NCP leader, in his plea, maintained that he was never married to Sharma, due to which the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (DV) Act, 2005, was not applicable to the case. Munde claims that he is only legally married to Rajshri Munde.