NCP leader and Food and Civil Supplies minister Dhananjay Munde did not find place in the list of guardian ministers released by the Maharashtra government on Saturday. Ministers in Maharashtra are given responsibility of one or more districts.
The announcement was awaited after the formation of the new BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena government last month. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also handles the Home department, would be the guardian minister of Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district, while deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has been alloted Beed district in addition to Pune, Pawar’s home district.
Dhananjay Munde, MLA from Parali in Beed, was guardian minister of this central Maharashtra district during the previous government. But recently he came under fire from both Opposition as well as local BJP MLAs over the brutal murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in the district. Walmik Karad, Munde’s associate, has been arrested in connection with the case.
Ajit Pawar, who heads the NCP, had refused to ask Munde to resign over the controversy. Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, another deputy CM, would be the guardian minister of Mumbai city as well as Thane district which is his stronghold.
