Pankaja, Fadnavis share stage, signal a truce after years

Disgruntled BJP leader Pankaja Munde on Tuesday shared dais with chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at a government programme in Beed, indicating that she was willing to bury the hatchet with Fadnavis who appealed to her and her cousin, NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, to come together for development of their region

Disgruntled BJP leader Pankaja Munde on Tuesday shared dais with chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at a government programme in Beed, indicating that she was willing to bury the hatchet with Fadnavis who appealed to her and her cousin, NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, to come together for development of their region.

Pankaja, Fadnavis share stage, signal a truce after years

BJP insiders said the party has taken the first step to pacify Pankaja ahead of the Lok Sabha election as winning Beed is crucial. Party leaders said state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule called on her at her Mumbai residence during Diwali and advised her to actively participate in the party affairs, which she has been avoiding of late. Hence, she turned up at the Shinde-led government’s outreach programme, ‘Shasan Aplya Dari’ (government at your doorstep), at Parli in Beed district.

On Tuesday, she was seated next to Fadnavis and occasionally seen chatting with him. Both Shinde and Fadnavis recognised her presence and urged her to join forces with her brother. “I appeal to both of you to come together. Three of us (Shinde, Pawar and Fadnavis) will support you,” Fadnavis said.

Dhananjay Munde, who is also the guardian minister and was present on the dais, said, “There is no dispute between us. We are together now.”

It is not yet clear whether Pankaja’s concern is addressed by the party. After losing her Parli assembly seat to Dhananjay, Pankaja wants to select one of the neighbouring constituencies to contest next year’s assembly election. However, party insiders said, BJP leaders want her to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Beed currently represented by her younger sister Pritam. Pankaja, on the other hand, is not keen on going to parliament and has publicly said that she would not take her sister’s constituency.

Daughter of late Gopinath Munde and a prominent Other Backward Classes face in state politics, Pankaja has been openly expressing her unhappiness with the party for the last few years. She was expecting rehabilitation but did not get a chance for which she was indirectly blaming Fadnavis. She was made national secretary and was given the responsibility of Madhya Pradesh along with some other leaders, but she remained disgruntled as she wanted a role in the state. Recently she took out a yatra to gauge the mood among her supporters.

Shinde believably played a key role in bringing Pankaja on board for the Beed programme. He ensured that she traveled with him and his two deputies. “By endorsing the truce, Fadnavis too scored politically. Pankaja is firm on renomination of Pritam for the Lok Sabha though the party leadership is in favour of replacing the sitting MP with Pankaja. The party thinks that a truce between the Munde cousins makes the victory in the Lok Sabha elections easier and in that case repeating Pritam could not be an issue. Tuesday’s rally was more like a step put forward from both sides towards reconciliation,” a BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, said.