India, March 5 -- Food and civil supplies minister Dhananjay Munde was asked to resign by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday following a closed-door meeting the previous evening with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Munde himself and other senior leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Although the decision came after mounting pressure on the government after Munde's close aide Walmik Karad was implicated in the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, Pawar himself had consistently ignored all demands of Munde's dismissal from the cabinet by his Mahayuti partners and Opposition.

Since the day of the murder - December 9 -- several leaders within the NCP (MLA Prakash Solanke was one) as well as Bharatiya Janata Party (...