Mumbai: Maharashtra cabinet minister Dhananjay Munde, facing political heat over the alleged involvement of his close aide in an extortion case in his home turf Beed district, has been made a member of his party NCP's newly formed ''core group''. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has formed a ''core group'' comprising senior leaders to work on strengthening the organisation ahead of the local body polls, taking policy decisions and initiating welfare schemes.
Besides, Ajit Pawar, NCP working president Praful Patel, senior leaders Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hassan Mushrif and Munde are members of the key body, the party, a constituent of the BJP-led ruling coalition Mahayuti, said on Friday. A statement from Tatkare, who is Maharashtra NCP president, said the main purpose of the group will be to work on party restructuring and planning for the upcoming local bodies polls.
Munde and Mushrif are ministers in the BJP-led Mahayuti government, while Bhujbal and Walse Patil were members in the previous Eknath Shinde-led cabinet. Ajit Pawar, who split the NCP founded by his uncle Sharad Pawar in July 2023, later got the party name and clock symbol and on basis on his group's legislative strength. As part of the BJP-led Mahayuti, the party contested 57 seats and won 41 of them in the November 2024 assembly polls.
Munde's membership of the core group shows NCP president Ajit Pawar's confidence in his beleaguered party and cabinet colleague, who is facing call for resignation from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The MLA from Parli in Beed district is under attack from opposition parties and even some leaders of the ruling Mahayuti as his close aide Walmik Karad has been arrested in an extortion case linked to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in December last year.
The NCP leader faced more trouble when activist Anjali Damania last week alleged a Rs 88 crore `scam’ in the agriculture department when Munde held the portfolio in the previous Mahayuti coalition government. Munde, who currently holds the food and civil supplies portfolio, has termed Damania's allegations as "baseless".
