Will take a decision at an apt time, says Pankaja Munde

Upset over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) decision to ignore her sister and Beed MP Pritam Munde Khade for a ministerial berth at the Centre and instead picking another Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader for the post, party leader Pankaja Munde on Tuesday trained guns on the party’s state leadership

Upset over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) decision to ignore her sister and Beed MP Pritam Munde Khade for a ministerial berth at the Centre and instead picking another Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader for the post, party leader Pankaja Munde on Tuesday trained guns on the party’s state leadership. Munde, who is considered as BJP’s OBC face in Maharashtra, ruled out a revolt against the party, but insisted that she has been avoiding a “Dharmayuddha” (war fought for principles) as much as possible and would take a decision at an appropriate time.

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Munde did not deny that she was unhappy over the party’s decision and blamed the BJP’s state leadership, but at the same time insisted that she had full faith in the party’s central leadership.

Munde’s supporters see the party’s decision to elevate party’s Rajya Sabha MP Bhagwat Karad as a union minister a move to put forth a new OBC leader and to undermine the importance of Pankaja. They blamed former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the same. The supporters, many of whom apparently quit party posts in protest, had gathered outside Munde’s residence at Worli on Tuesday.

“Time is the solution to everything. This is not the time to take any extreme decision. Why should we leave our own house, which has been built with our efforts? We will see if the roof comes crumbling down on us in the future,” she remarked.

Pankaja is the eldest daughter of the late Gopinath Munde, who played a significant role in building the party’s base in Maharashtra. He was also regarded as the most influential OBC leader in the state and is often credited with changing the earlier perception of the BJP that it was a party of a few upper caste communities. After her father’s death in 2014, Pankaja has been fighting to retain his legacy in state politics. She was locked in a bitter power tussle with Fadnavis. Following Karad’s inclusion in the union cabinet last week, several of her supporters expressed their anguish on the social media and blamed Fadnavis, alleging that the move was aimed at undermining Pankaja’s leadership. Karad, once a confidant of the late Gopinath Munde, comes from the OBC community and also hails from the central Maharashtra region, just like Pankaja Munde.

Pankaja, while addressing her supporters on Tuesday, said that though they are unhappy with the party decision and though the “sacrifice” and the “hardwork” done by them has not been honoured by the leadership, it was not time to quit the party. Pankaja also equated their fight against the “ill-intended detractors” within the party with the battle in Mahabharat. She slammed her detractors from the state unit of BJP without naming them.

Munde said that she was targeted within the party for saying that she was the chief minister in the minds of the people, but what about the people who dream to become the prime minister. “I never said that I wanted to become CM. It was the wish expressed by the people. How did the news about my past remarks suddenly appear after BJP won power? I was targeted for the same, but what about the people who say they want to become the prime minister? They keep talking about the posts and ministerial berths I got, but conveniently forget about what was snatched away from me,” she remarked.

Munde also hinted that many leaders in the state unit of the party were upset with the leadership in the state and were in touch with her. “Even the lieutenants of Kauravas in Mahabharat were not with them emotionally. They were mentally with the Pandavas,”she said.

She also announced that the resignations submitted by her supporters were rejected by her. Her supporters openly spoke against party’s decision about not inducting Pritam in the cabinet.

Munde said that she has full faith in the party’s central leadership and they will never let her down. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union home minster Amit Shah, party’s national president JP Nadda are our leaders and I have full faith in them. They have treated me with full respect. Even in our meeting with the central leadership on Monday, I told Naddaji about the discontent among party workers. He has shown full faith that I will convince you to calm down. This is a short pause in our political journey,” she said in an emotional appeal to supporters.

Till late in the evening, the state BJP had not reacted to Munde’s remarks. There was no reaction from Fadnavis either.

Political analyst Hemant Desai said, “It was a revolt by Pankaja Munde, although she has not said so directly. It was an attempt of show of strength and a warning of an extreme step. She has attacked Devendra Fadnavis without naming him and has praised the central leadership. Though BJP’s central leadership never gives in to pressure tactics, it may take a different stand in Pankaja’s case as she is an OBC face and enjoys a support base in parts of Marathwada and western Maharashtra. She can dent BJP if she decides to walk out.”