Mumbai: Food and civil supplies minister Dhananjay Munde is not the first cabinet member to quit the ministry mid-way. In the recent past, more than 15 cabinet members had to resign following allegations of their involvement in scams, corruption and other irregularities.
BJP MP Ashok Chavan had to resign from the CM’s post in Nov 2010 after his name figured in the Adarsh housing society scam. Chavan was in the Congress at the time and, following reports in the media, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi asked him to immediately step down.
In 2012, Ajit Pawar, who was then deputy chief minister, resigned from the cabinet following allegations of a Rs 72,000 crore scam in the irrigation dept. He was back in the cabinet following a preliminary inquiry.
Eknath Khadse had to quit the cabinet when he was revenue minister in June 2016, after his name was linked to an MIDC land scam. Following directives from chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Khadse, who was then in the BJP, had to step down.
During the MVA govt led by Uddhav Thackeray, two cabinet members, Anil Deshmukh and Sanjay Rathod, had to quit. Commissioner of police Param Bir Singh had alleged at the time that Deshmukh had demanded Rs 100 crore from him, while Rathod’s name was linked to the death of a woman in Pune.
Another high-profile politician who had to resign was Chhagan Bhujbal when he was deputy chief minister. His political mentor, Sharad Pawar, asked him to quit on moral grounds following stone-pelting on the office of a Marathi news channel.
Later, Bhujbal was arrested by the ED in the Maharashtra Sadan scam. He was given a clean chit after the court found that there was no substance in the charges against him.
When Vilasrao Deshmukh was CM, he and Dy CM R R Patil had to quit in the wake of the terror attack on the city in 2008.
In view of the critical observations of a commission of inquiry led by Justice P B Sawant following a complaint lodged by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, at least four cabinet members, including Sureshdada Jain, Nawab Malik, Vijaykumar Gavit and Padamsinh Patil had to resign from the cabinet.