Dhananjay Munde's stellar rise in politics over just two decades

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: NCP politician Dhananjay Munde's resignation from the state cabinet on Tuesday has put brakes on his envious political career, during which he enjoyed close ties with NCP's top brass and secured plump portfolios within a short period.

Munde entered politics in the shadow of his uncle, late BJP politician and MP Gopinath Munde, and became state president of BJP's youth wing in 2007.

However, when Gopinath Munde picked his daughter Pankaja to contest from his home turf of Parli in the 2009 assembly election, Dhananjay felt sidelined. The uncle-nephew duo also had skirmishes over appointments of the Parli municipal council.

NCP, led by Sharad Pawar, drew Dhananjay into its fold in 2012 and drove a wedge within the Munde family in Beed. Since then, Dhananjay was seen as a close ally of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. With Pankaja and Dhananjay on the opposite sides of the then political spectrum in Maharashtra, they remained at loggerheads for the next 15 years till an apparent patch-up in 2024.

Soon after he joined NCP, Dhananjay bagged the coveted leader of the opposition post in the legislative council after winning the closely contested council poll in 2013. A year later, he lost the 2014 assembly election to estranged cousin Pankaja. He avenged the loss in the 2019 assembly election by defeating Pankaja, who was the BJP nominee at the time.

This win propelled Dhananjay into the top rung of NCP politicians. In 2019, he was among those who backed Ajit Pawar during the early morning swearing in ceremony with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis. Speaking at the NCP convention at Shirdi recently, Munde said though he had advised against going in for the swearing in ceremony, when it happened, he was punished.

During MVA govt tenure, Dhananjay served as the cabinet minister for the social justice department. When Ajit Pawar split from his uncle, Dhananjay sided with the nephew. He was again made a cabinet minister in CM Eknath Shinde's cabinet. Munde's term as agricultural minister under Shinde invited multiple allegations, especially those related to bogus crop insurance claims and purchase-related matters, but he stayed put in the cabinet.

Over the years, he also emerged as a strong OBC face of NCP. In the current govt, he was made the minister for food, civil supplies and consumer protection. His fall came after his close aide, Valmik Karad, was arrested in the Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh kidnap-murder case.

When contacted, an NCP spokesperson said Munde has stepped down on his own. "He is neither an accused, nor named in the chargesheet filed in connection with the Massjaog case. By stepping down, his only intention is to ensure a fair trial in the murder case. He also has not been keeping well for the past few months and a break from public life will help him regain his health," he said, preferring anonymity.