Maharashtra: Dhananjay Munde passed over as guardian minister for Beed?

NCP leader and food and civil supplies minister Dhananjay Munde did not find a place in the list of guardian ministers released by the Maharashtra government on Saturday, 18 January.

This announcement was awaited after the formation of the new BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena government in December 2024. Ministers in Maharashtra are given responsibility of one or more districts. The state has 36 districts.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also handles the home department, will be the guardian minister of Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district, while deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has been alloted Beed district in addition to Pune, Pawar's home district.

Dhananjay Munde, MLA from Parali in Beed, was guardian minister of this central Maharashtra district during the previous government. But recently he has come under fire from both the opposition as well as local BJP MLAs over the brutal murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in the district. Walmik Karad, Munde's associate, has been arrested in connection with the case.

Ajit Pawar, who heads the NCP, had refused to ask Munde to resign over the controversy.

Munde, in a post on X, congratulated Ajit Pawar. He had requested Pawar to become Beed's guardian minister in view of the "changed political and social situation" in the district, he said.

With Pawar's appointment, the development of Beed will get a boost as that in Pune did, he added.

Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, another deputy CM, will be the guardian minister of Mumbai city as well as Thane district, which is his stronghold.

Besides Munde, cabinet ministers Dadaji Bhuse, Datta Bharne, Bharat Gogawale and ministers of state Indranil Naik and Yogesh Kadam too were not allotted any district.

State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule was named guardian minister of Nagpur and Amravati.

Ashish Shelar was named guardian minister of Mumbai Suburbs while Mangal Prabhat Lodha will be co-guardian minister of the district. Both Shelar and Lodha are BJP leaders from Mumbai.

Aditi Tatkare of NCP would be the guardian minister of Raigad, the post eyed by Bharat Gogawale of the Shiv Sena who hails from the same coastal district. Gogawale had said in the past that he was keen to be the guardian minister of Raigad.

Shiv Sena's Shambhuraj Desai was named the guardian minister of Satara.

BJP's Shivendra Sinh Bhosale who is from Satara has been made guardian minister of Latur. Jaykumar Gore of BJP, also from Satara, has been made guardian minister of Solapur. NCP's Makrand patil is guardian minister of Buldhana.

Pankaja Munde of the BJP — Dhananjay Munde's cousin — has been made guardian minister of Jalna district.

Chandrakant Patil was made guardian minister of Sangli, while another BJP leader Girish Mahajan was given the responsibility of Nashik. The Sena's Gulabrao Patil has been alloted Jalgaon.

Ashish Jaiswal of Shiv Sena would be the co-guardian minister of Gadchiroli along with CM Fadnavis.

Kolhapur will have Prakash Abitkar as guardian minister and Madhuri Misal as co-gaurdian minister.

The other guardian ministers are:

• Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Ahilyanagar)

• Hassan Mushrif (Washim)

• Ganesh Naik (Palghar)

• Sanjay Rathod (Yavatmal)

• Uday Samant (Ratnagiri)

• Jaykumar Raval (Dhule)

• Atul Save (Nanded)

• Ashok Uike (Chandrapur)

• Manikrao Kokate (Nandurbar)

• Narhari Zirwal (Hingoli)

• Sanjay Savkare (Bhandara)

• Sanjay Shirsat (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar)

• Pratap Sarnaik (Dharashiv)

• Nitesh Rane (Sindhudurg)

• Akash Fundkar (Akola)

• Babasaheb Patil (Gondia)

• Pankaj Bhoir (Wardha)

• Meghana Bordikar (Parbhani)