Beed Mayhem Embarrassment For Mahayuti, Dhananjay Munde

Political attacks against embattled minister Dhananjay Munde and his cousin Pankaja Munde, a cabinet minister in Maharashtra, are becoming more and more damaging for the Mahayuti government since they indirectly target the law and order situation in the state. The state’s atmosphere has been in a spin ever since a village sarpanch in the district, Santosh Deshmukh, was brutally murdered 19 days ago. The flurry of allegations was started by Beed district BJP MLA Suresh Dhas. Now, another MLA from the district, Prakash Solanke, who belongs to the NCP led by deputy CM Ajit Pawar, has joined the melee. Both have demanded that Beed’s situation will not improve unless chief minister Devendra Fadnavis himself accepts the responsibility as its guardian minister. This is seen as an oblique criticism of Munde. Incidentally, both have attracted ire from within the Mahayuti since Ajit Pawar’s spokesman Amol Mitkari has charged that it is a smear campaign to damage the reputations of Dhananjay and Pankaja. Till now, Fadnavis as well as deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have been maintaining that the guilty will be punished. However, the police department’s failure to nab the three absconding suspects has pushed the Fadnavis government in the dock. Of the three, Walmik Karad, is closest to Dhananjay. Pictures of them hugging each other have gone viral. Dhananjay has admitted their intimacy but has claimed that those responsible for the murder of Santosh Deshmukh deserve severest punishment. This stance has not pacified the local people, who will hold a protest march to demand immediate action by the authorities.