Sarpanch murder: On first visit to Beed, CM says district will get a new identity

For the first time since the raging controversy broke over the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in December last year, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Beed district, where he presided over a public function on Wednesday

MUMBAI: For the first time since the raging controversy broke over the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in December last year, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Beed district, where he presided over a public function on Wednesday. Fadnavis took the opportunity to say that he intends to give the district a new identity. No criminal activities will be tolerated in the district, nor will anyone involved in the murder be spared, he said.

Sarpanch murder: On first visit to Beed, CM says district will get a new identity

Conspicuously absent from the function was Dhananjay Munde, whose dismissal from the state cabinet is being sought over the murder. The food and civil supplies minister has been linked to the alleged mastermind of the murder, Walmik Karad, who is also alleged to have unleashed a reign of terror in Beed. Munde, elected from Parli in Beed district, did not attend the function even though all ministers from the district should have been present during chief minister’s visit, according to protocol.

Feeling particularly vindicated was Suresh Dhas, the BJP MLA from Ashti constituency in Beed. Dhas has been very vocal against Munde and has kept up the pressure for his dismissal from the cabinet. Fadnavis was in Beed to inaugurate the Kunthephal Storage Dam Project in Ashti, Dhas’s constituency, setting political circles abuzz. By choosing Ashti, was Fadnavis signalling his support to Dhas, his party colleague? Dhas believes he was. “Fadnavissaheb is Devendra Bahubali, who can fulfill our demands for the constituency. People mock me over my relationship with the CM, but I can say that his blessings are with me,” he said.

Dhas also said the people of Beed were happy with the action taken by the chief minister in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case. He also demanded action against Beed’s land, sand and ash mafia under MCOCA.

He also took a dig at his party colleague and minister Pankaja Munde for targeting him, for speaking up against her cousin Dhananjay Munde. “Some people say that Beed is being defamed (because of Dhas’s vocal stand against Munde) but everybody knows the district has been defamed because some people supported criminal activities in the district,” he said.

Meanwhile, explaining his absence from the function, Munde said, “Today, I underwent eye surgery in Mumbai at the private hospital of Padmashri Dr Tatyarao Lahane. Doctors have advised me to take care and rest for the next four to five days. So I will not meet anyone for the next five days. I will resume work from Monday,” he said in a social media post.

Excluding Munde, all the other elected representatives from Beed were present at the function, including water resources minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil; Beed MP Bajarang Sonwane of the NCP (SP); BJP MLAs Suresh Dhas from Ashti and Namita Mundada from Kaij; NCP MLAs Vijaysinh Pandit and Prakash Solanke; and NCP (SP) MLA Jaidutt Kshirsagar.