Mumbai: Demand for the resignation of Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde is growing as a Mumbai woman has accused him of rape. However, Dhananjay Munde’s party the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said Thursday the issue will be discussed internally. Then only a call will be taken on his fate following the charges which it termed as ‘serious’.
NCP president Sharad Pawar said the allegation against the Social Justice Minister was serious. He added the party will discuss the issue and decide on it ‘as soon as possible’. Pawar told reporters that Munde (45) met him n Wednesday and explained the details in connection with the allegation.
“I think the allegation against him (Munde) is serious. Naturally, we will have to discuss the issue as a party. I will discuss the same in detail with my key colleagues and take them into confidence,” Pawar told reporters. “Further steps will be taken after knowing their views. We will do this as soon as possible,” he added.
Maharashtra NCP president and state minister Jayant Patil said Munde will not resign just because someone has made allegations. He asserted the issue will be discussed inside the NCP and a decision will be taken based on facts.
Talking to reporters, Patil said any conclusion should be reached only based on police probe outcome into the matter. “Munde was being blackmailed and he made a complaint to the police. We should reach any conclusion based on the outcome of the police probe. We need not jump to a conclusion,” Patil said.
Patil said Munde had made a complaint about his alleged blackmailing by the woman at the Bandra Police Station. However, the cops did not take appropriate action on the same. Hence, Munde had approached the Bombay High Court.
The 37-year-old woman who has accused Munde of rape is aspiring singer. He said she wrote to the Mumbai police commissioner January 10, stating that Munde repeatedly raped her in 2006. She also claimed that she approached the Oshiwara police here earlier but her complaint was ignored. Munde, an NCP leader from Beed district, has denied the allegations. He has claimed he is being blackmailed by the woman and her sister.
Munde however, has received support from an unexpected quarter. BJP leader Krishna Hegde claimed Thursday that the same woman had been harassing him for several years. In a letter to suburban Amboli Police, Hegde, a former MLA who was earlier with the Congress, said she was trying to woo him since 2010. He also claimed that the woman had tried to trap another political leader in the same way.
Notably, the opposition BJP has sought Munde’s resignation after the woman, approached police with her allegations.
The woman used to call him (Hegde) and send messages to him from various numbers and this continued till 2015. However, Hegde said he told her clearly that he was not interested in meeting her. He said he was shocked after reading about the allegations against Munde and decided to approach police.
“This is a process to lure, honeytrap, blackmail and extort money and I would request the Mumbai Police to file an FIR and take the matter to its logical conclusion,” the letter written by Hegde to the police said.