Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Delhi that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s position about the resignation of state Food & Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde of the NCP is the “clear and official” position.

After Fadnavis, who is in Delhi on official work, was asked if he would ask Munde to resign in connection with Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case, the CM said, “Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has presented a clear position regarding Dhananjay Munde’s resignation. Ajit Dada’s position is the official position”.

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Earlier, NCP chief Ajit Pawar had indicated that unless there is “incontrovertible evidence” against Munde, nobody who is “innocent” will be asked to resign, after anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania met Pawar with a lot of video and documentary evidence proving Munde’s financial links to Valmik Karad who has been accused of murdering Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.

Meanwhile, Munde has managed to get the support of a Maharashtra- based influential OBC Vanjari caste organisation leader by the name of Bhagwangad Mahant Namdev Shastri who held a press conference in Beed on Friday morning and declared his support behind Munde, who met Shastri before the press conference.

“Although Dhananjay Munde does not have a criminal background, he is deliberately being portrayed as a criminal. Dhananjay Munde is not a man who lives from money gained by extortion. The allegations against Dhananjay Munde are a loss to the Vanjari community. Munde is being subjected to a media trial. Caste divide is being created on this occasion for political gain. The party leaders are also aware that Dhananjay Munde is not a criminal”, Shastri said at the press conference, backing Munde.

Bhagwangad is a place of worship venerated by the numerically significant OBC Vanjari community. It is also considered a holy place for the Warkari sect. By supporting Dhananjay Munde from Bhagwangad, Namdev Shastri’s statement is seen as an indirect message to Ajit Pawar and the BJP that the entire OBC Vanjari community is behind Munde. When the demand for minister’s resignation was gaining momentum, Shastri is said to have directly challenged political parties by rallying the entire OBC Vanjari community behind Munde. Reportedly, Shastri’s message to political parties was that if Munde is made to resign, then the entire OBC Vanjai community would go against the political party seen to be responsible for Munde’s resignation.

Reacting to Shastri’s statement backing Munde, anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania said, “Bhagwangarh is a very sacred place. There was really no need to talk about politics from there. Namdev Shastri has no idea about this matter. He has not seen the documentary evidence against Munde. We are stating facts and perhaps Namdev Shastri may not be aware of them. That is why he may have said this. Actually, he should not have held this press conference”.

“Through some of our colleagues, otherwise, I will go to Bhagwangad and give all documentary evidence to Shastri. In the next two days, maybe tomorrow or the day after, I will make another big disclosure. There is terror in Beed. It has been shown by the media and everybody knows who is spreading terror,” Damania said.

Other political figures like Sharad Pawar-led NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad also reacted to the support received by Munde from Bhagwangad Mahant Namdev Shastri.

“Will justice be served to the people of the OBC Vanjari community who were murdered in the last few years? I can say 100 per cent that Dhananjay Munde did not commit the murder, but he is not innocent either. He unknowingly did the work of feeding this gang and providing political patronage to it. Also, respectable people should limit their words,” Awhad said.