Mumbai, March 4: NCP president and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Tuesday that NCP legislator Dhananjay Munde resigned as Maharashtra Minister on moral grounds.

Deputy CM Pawar had taken a firm stand amid the chorus for Munde’s resignation that the party will take a call after the completion of ongoing investigations by the CID, special investigation team and judicial committee in the murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.

Deputy CM Pawar remained with Munde through thick and thin, however, after CID named his close associate Walmik Karad as the mastermind in the brutal killing of Santosh Deshmukh, he asked Munde to resign.

However, Munde’s cousin and BJP minister Pankaja Munde from Beed district said that Dhananjay Munde should have resigned much earlier.

“Dhananjay Munde’s resignation has been accepted, it should be welcomed. This resignation should have come much earlier. He should not have taken the oath of office. If he had done so, perhaps we would not have had to face the following things,” she added.

“Had Dhananjay Munde resigned earlier, the dignity could have been maintained. Resignation is nothing compared to the pain of that family (family of deceased sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh),” said Pankaja Munde.

“Some videos related to the killing of Santosh Deshmukh went viral on social media. I saw one of the posts. I did not dare to open that video. Those who killed the sarpanch, they did it inhumanly. They killed him and made a video of him. I do not dare to see the inhumanity that is in them. After the murder of Deshmukh, I first wrote a letter to the Chief Minister and on December 12, I gave my full speech on this. Today, you can see it online. I have expressed my opinion. Now, only the investigation machinery knows who is involved in this and who is not. I have no reason to interfere in it,” she said.

“There has been anger against the manner in which sarpanch was killed,” she said.

She added there is no need to rake up the issue of caste conflict.

Meanwhile, Congress slammed the Mahayuti government, saying that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Pawar have lost the moral right to remain in office and should resign.

“The whole of Maharashtra has been crying since the photos of the brutal killing of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh went viral. Despite the police and the government having these photos and videos, the government was saving Dhananjay Munde. Due to this act of the government, the dignity of Maharashtra has been brought down. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar have lost the moral right to remain in office. They should immediately step down,” said state Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal.

Sapkal said the government cannot pat on its back just because Dhananjay Munde has resigned.

“The real question is why the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister did not dismiss Dhananjay Munde. All the photos, videos, and evidence of these inhuman acts were with the police from the beginning, that is, with the Home Minister and the government. Seriously, the government was trying to save Dhananjay Munde for two months despite having complete knowledge of the inhuman acts of this gang of devils. This means that this gang had the support of the government and it was clear that the Santosh Deshmukh murder case was to be suppressed,” he alleged.

Mumbai, March 4: Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde, on Tuesday, welcomed the resignation of Dhananjay Munde from Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet and said that this should have happened earlier.

Pankaja Munde, the cabinet minister for Environment and Climate Change, speaking to the press, was unambiguous in her reaction to Dhananjay’s stepping down and said that morality should take precedence over all other considerations in such matters.

“I welcome his resignation. He should have resigned from the post earlier. Those who persuaded him to give up his position should have been more proactive, while he should also have been more prompt in tendering resignation,” Munde told reporters.

Pankaja Munde’s reaction assumes significance as both are cousins and became Ministers in Devendra Fadnavis’ government, one from the BJP and the other from the NCP.

Dhananjay Munde, the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies from NCP, has been in the firing line of opposition parties over his close aide Walmik Karad’s alleged role in the brutal murder of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, in December last year.

Dhananjay Munde came under increasing attack of the Opposition as his close associate Wasim Karad emerged as the prime accused in the chilling murder case.

Munde was initially reluctant to tender his resignation, but it was under the insistence of CM Fadnavis that he stepped down. His resignation came a day after the photos and videos of Santosh Deshmukh’s murder went viral on social media, triggering widespread outrage. The chilling visuals showed the brutality inflicted on Deshmukh by the extortionists.

The Crime Investigation Department (CID)’s 1,200 page charge sheet only gave more fodder to the Opposition, who kept gunning for Munde’s resignation over links with the mastermind.

Walmik Karad is among the eight persons arrested for Sarpanch’s killing in Beed district. His name figured as the key accused, along with seven others, in the broad daylight murder of Santosh Deshmukh.

Mumbai, March 4: Abu Azmi, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and party unit’s chief in Maharashtra, on Tuesday withdrew his controversial remarks in praise of tyrant Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, after facing intense backlash from leaders across all parties.

Azmi clarified that his statements were “twisted” and that he had no intention of disrespecting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj or Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.

Azmi had earlier sparked a political firestorm by asserting that Aurangzeb was “not a cruel leader.” His remarks were widely condemned, with critics accusing him of insulting revered Maratha figures. Many leaders called him “anti-national” and demanded a case of sedition being registered against him.

Following the uproar, Azmi posted a video on X defending his position.

“Yesterday, on March 3, when the Assembly ended and I came out, the media told me that the Chief Minister of Assam had compared Rahul Gandhi to Aurangzeb. In response, I spoke about Aurangzeb, but my words were blown out of proportion as if a storm had come. I have not insulted anyone,” he said.

He further emphasised his respect for national icons, stating, “I respect Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Sambhaji Maharaj, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, and all great men who stood for equality in society.”

Clarifying his comments on Aurangzeb, Azmi said, “When I quoted a historian’s book about Aurangzeb, I never spoke ill of any of our great men. But if my statements, which have been distorted, have offended anyone, I take them back. The Assembly has important work to do, and it should not be disrupted over this issue.”

Azmi’s retraction came after an FIR was filed against him at Thane’s Wagle Estate Police Station on a complaint by Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske. He has been booked under Sections 299, 302, 356(1), and 356(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and the case has since been transferred to Marine Drive Police Station.

The controversy erupted when Azmi, addressing reporters in Mumbai at the start of the Maharashtra Assembly session, responded to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s comparison of Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee to Aurangzeb.

“Aurangzeb got several temples built. In Varanasi, he saved a Hindu girl from a priest who had an evil eye on her. He had the priest trampled by elephants,” Azmi had claimed.

He had further stated, “I don’t consider Aurangzeb a cruel ruler. During that era, power struggles were political, not religious. Aurangzeb’s army had many Hindus, just as Chhatrapati Shivaji’s army had several Muslims.”