Nobody could have imagined that the BJP-led Mahayuti in Maharashtra, after winning such a big majority in the recent state assembly elections, would be facing such rough political weather in just the second session since the assembly polls happened.

The high-profile cabinet minister, Dhananjay Munde, who is considered to be very close to state Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, had to announce his resignation on Tuesday, just the second day of the session, as pressure started building against him over some leaked images going viral on social media.

The images sent a shock wave in Maharashtra. Just as the budget session of the state assembly kicked off in Mumbai on Monday, these images started going viral on social media, creating an outrage in many parts of the state.

The images were part of the chargesheet prepared by the state police investigating the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, chief of a small village in Beed district, who was kidnapped and killed over 80 days ago over political disputes. The images show the gruesome killing.

One of the several accused in the murder case, Valmik Karad, has, allegedly, been a close associate of Dhananjay Munde. On several occasions, while speaking with the media, Munde accepted that Karad was his associate but kept claiming that he (Munde) had nothing to do with the incident.

Interestingly, it was not the opposition parties but the BJP's own MLA, Suresh Dhas, who had been on the offensive for the past two months against Dhananjay Munde and Valmik Karad and kept demanding the minister's resignation.

Regional news channels have been highlighting the issue for over two months, asking questions about the gruesome murder of Deshmukh, while Munde's boss, NCP Chief Ajit Pawar, kept avoiding any direct action against him.

Finally, on Tuesday, after a lot of pressure from various quarters, Munde resigned, putting the ruling NCP and its chief Ajit Pawar in a very awkward position. The NCP has reasons to get into further embarrassment, as the opposition is putting pressure on the Mahayuti partner over the recent court conviction of another NCP minister, Manikrao Kokate, and is demanding his resignation too!

Now, political observers are raising questions over the timing of the leaked images on social media, which is well over two months after the investigation established what happened in the Beed district and the elementary evidence was procured. For over 80 days, various organisations and political leaders have been demanding Dhananjay Munde's resignation on moral grounds.

Investigating agencies have uncovered various nefarious activities, such as, running extortion rackets and kidnappings, among others, of Valmik Karad and those actually involved in the incident. Dhas and many other leaders have levied allegations that these illegal activities could not happen without political patronage, indirectly pointing a finger at Munde for, allegedly, providing patronage to the culprits.

Munde has been a very close and trusted colleague of Ajit Pawar. After Ajit decided to split from his uncle, Sharad Pawar, and align with the BJP, three leaders have stayed alongside him. MP Praful Patel, MP Sunil Tatkare, and Beed MLA Dhananjay Munde.

The NCP has two prominent faces belonging to the OBC community, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde. In the recent state assembly elections, the caste or community factor played a crucial role for the NCP, and the party did better than expected by winning 41 seats in the state assembly.

However, after the elections, Ajit Pawar aligned more with Munde and sidelined Chhagan Bhujbal. Now with Bhujbal not in the state cabinet and Munde forced to resign, the NCP has suffered a huge blow, with no prominent and senior OBC face left in the party high command. This is going to hit the party hard, especially in Marathwada and North Maharashtra, where OBC votes will make a lot of difference in the upcoming district council polls.

With the opposition parties, Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP, being in a weak position right now, if there is one party that will gain out of the damage suffered by the Ajit Pawar party, it is the BJP! It is interesting to see how it was not the opposition but the BJP itself that took the lead in creating political noise over the Beed incident, and the alleged political involvement of those arrested.

It was BJP MLA Suresh Dhas, who led the crusade against Dhananjay Munde. Social activist, Anjali Damania, was another prominent face who presented documents about the cases to the media. It is clear that the gainer in the whole episode, which has put Ajit Pawar and his party in a very awkward position, is none other than the BJP.

So, while Ajit Pawar tries to assess the political damage he and his party have suffered, his alliance partner in the state government, the BJP, just chooses to stand aside and watch silently what is unfolding!

Rohit Chandavarkar is a senior journalist who has worked for 31 years with various leading newspaper brands and television channels in Mumbai and Pune