Sidelined by party, Pankaja Munde to go on Shiv Shakti Yatra across 10 districts

Pankaja Munde, a prominent OBC face of the BJP in Maharashtra, said the Shiv Shakti Yatra will start in early September

MUMBAI: Back from her two-month sabbatical, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pankaja Munde has announced that she will go on a 5,000km Shiv Shakti Yatra across 10 districts of Maharashtra in early September.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pankaja Munde said she will announce her itinerary soon (HT File Photo)

Pankaja Munde, who has been fighting a tough political battle on home turf in Beed, made the announcement in a video that also showed her worshipping Lord Shiva at home. She said she will visit 11 temples of Jyotirlinga and Shaktipeethas located in 10 districts of the state during her yatra that will start in early September.

“You all have been requesting me to come out and participate in social-political gatherings. I have been active and have visited Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh, but was on a political break. I have been more into religious activities these days and found solace in them. I have been feeling blessed and thought why not meet you… I will be visiting all Jyotirlingas and Shaktipeethas in the state. I will also visit other temples that are close by to these religious places,” she said in her video statement on YouTube.

Munde said she would announce her itinerary soon to indicate her stops during the yatra. “I will be available to meet you at those respective places…. This is a tour to take darshan of Shiv, Shakti and all of you,” she said in the video.

Pankaja is expected to begin her tour from Ghrushneshwar temple in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad), followed by Jyotirlingas in Nashik, Ahmednagar, Satara, Kolhapur, Pune and other districts.

Munde, who is a BJP national secretary, co-incharge of Madhya Pradesh and a prominent OBC face of the party, took a two-month break from politics on July 7 after complaining that some people in the party were out to finish her political career.

Elder daughter and political heir of Gopinath Munde, who died in a car accident in 2014, Pankaja is in a bitter tussle with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. She blamed her detractors after she lost assembly elections from her Parli constituency in Beed district in 2019. She was expecting a nomination to the legislative council but the party did not fulfil her wish. She was also expecting a ministerial berth for her sister and Beed MP Pritam Munde which was also denied. She was also not considered for a ministerial position when BJP formed the government last year.

A party leader close to Munde said she was following her father’s footsteps by embarking on the state tour and making efforts to galavanise her supporters.