Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said a decision regarding scam-accused Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde will be taken shortly after a meeting with the chief minister.

“There is a limit to everything. Once that limit is crossed, things happen automatically. Leaders have started talking since yesterday or the day before yesterday. I think that Ajit Pawar, Shinde Saheb and Chief Minister Fadnavis will sit together and decide about this matter very soon,” state minister Bharat Gogavale said, hinting that Munde may be asked to step down from his cabinet minister post.

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A couple of days ago, when asked about Dhananjay Munde, NCP chief and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar too had stated, “I had resigned when I was accused of the irrigation scam. Now, he (Munde) should take the decision”. His statement had raised eyebrows since it was seen as an indication of the prevailing mood within the Mahayuti cabinet.

Meanwhile, anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania held a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday and accused Maharashtra Food & Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde of committing a scam in the agriculture department, when Munde was agriculture minister, in the previous Mahayuti cabinet headed by Chief Minister Shinde.

She alleged that Munde pulled off the scam by releasing funds worth Rs 200 crore after issuing an illegal government resolution (GR) though the previous Mahayuti cabinet headed by Chief Minister Shinde had not taken any decision to sanction the amount.

She alleged that Munde not only issued a false and illegal order, but he also made an additional demand of Rs 500 crore to be sanctioned.

“Some decisions were taken in the cabinet on September 23 and September 30, but Dhananjay Munde issued orders based on decisions which were not at all related to the agriculture department. Although there was no mention of the Rs 200 crore fund sanctioned in the minutes of the cabinet meeting, Dhananjay

Munde issued a letter to sanction that amount. Apart from this, he demanded an additional Rs 500 crore in October 2024. A corrupt person like Dhananjay Munde is not fit to be a minister, let alone an agriculture minister,” Anjali Damania said.

“This is a good example of the depths to which this minister can go. Immediate action must be taken against him. Such a person has no right to be in the cabinet,” Damania said, after releasing the illegal GR with then agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde’s signature on it.