Beed sarpanch murder: Multi-party delegation seeks Dhananjay Munde’s resignation

As a multiparty delegation mounted pressure for the resignation of Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde in the case regarding the murder of a sarpanch in Beed district his senior party colleague Chhagan Bhujbal has questioned the demand Later on Monday Munde met his party boss Ajit Pawar for the first time after he was mired in the allegations He said he extended New Year wishes to the DyCM and discussed the portfolio with which he has been entrusted ldquoI tell you honestly that the subject youre talking about was not discussed at allrdquo he said Last week he had refused to resign asking his detractors to prove the allegationsResign immediatelyFormer MP Sambhajiraje Bhosale Swarajya Party led the delegation to Governor CP Radhakrishnan that comprised the Opposition leader in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve SenaUBT former Opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar Congress Legislator Suresh Dhas BJP MLA Jitendra Awhad MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar and Beed MP Bajrang Sonawane all NCPSP and Narendra Patil BJPDhananjay Munde File picApart from demanding Mundes resignation the delegation submitted to the governor that he instruct the government to restore public faith in the law The leaders said that Walmik Karad an alleged mastermind should be tried in a fasttrack court under BNS 103 old IPC 302 They demanded that the police officers who neglected their duty be held accountable and punishedIn the past week wellattended public marches were held in Pune Parbhani and Beed to demand action against the murderers of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and to press for Mundes resignation The death of Somnath Suryawanshi an activist in Parbhani was also raised with the governorldquoThere have been instances in which the CMs and ministers have resigned when they faced allegations They returned when nothing was found against them We also want Munde to resign Why is Ajit Pawar NCP president protecting Munderdquo asked Bhosale after meeting the governorWhy asks BhujbalBhujbal extended Munde his support after a delegation returned from Raj Bhavan Incidentally Bhujbal is upset over not getting a cabinet berth from his party NCP Ajit Pawar Speculators said if Munde gets out Bhujbal will get in the cabinet But Bhujbal said he did not want a ministers position at the cost of othersldquoIt is not right to seek Mundes resignation Nothing has been confirmed about Mundes role The CM has assured action and if he finds someone guilty he will ask that person to go Why are they demanding his sacking before anything has been establishedrdquo he said adding that he himself was a victim because he had to quit as the DyCM and home minister when nothing was proved against him in the Telgi stamp paper scam ldquoI came out clean was elected to the Assembly and made a minister again But before that my family and I had to undergo a horrific experiencerdquo added BhujbalBeef up protectionNCPSP President Sharad Pawar wrote a letter to CM Devendra Fadnavis asking him to enhance the personal security of all party leaders who have been speaking against the Massajog murder accused Pawar said that the accused were still large and the entire episode had a bigger criminal background ldquoIt is because of this that the public representatives have been asking to unroot the criminal elements As it happens the possibility of these criminals posing a serious threat to the lives of public representatives cannot be ruled out The CM should consider this and review the security details to enhance it furtherrdquo Pawar wrote naming Sonwane Kshirsagar Awhad Dhas and Prakash Solanke among others