Not me, my followers are unhappy with my sister’s Cabinet exclusion: Pankaja Munde

Days after four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarians from Maharashtra were inducted into the Union cabinet, the dissenting voices from within the party’s state unit have started emerging

Days after four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarians from Maharashtra were inducted into the Union cabinet, the dissenting voices from within the party’s state unit have started emerging.

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The followers of BJP’s Other Backward Class (OBC) face Pankaja Munde publicly expressed their discontent after her sister and Beed Member of Parliament (MP) Pritam Munde was not inducted into the cabinet.

However, Munde said her family was not unhappy over her sister’s exclusion and that the party must have taken the decision in a “larger interest”.

Party MPs Narayan Rane, Kapil Patil, Dr Bharati Pawar and Dr Bhagwat Karad were inducted as ministers on Wednesday after Narendra Modi expanded his cabinet. Three of these MPs had joined the party in the past few years, which has led to discontent among hardcore BJP leaders.

Heena Gavit from North Maharashtra and Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar from western part of the state are also unhappy for missing the ministerial berths. State leaders reportedly spoke to Gavit and assured her of ‘key responsibility’ in the future. According to party insiders, Gavit’s induction was believably opposed by former state ministers and north Maharashtra BJP leaders Girish Mahajan and Jaikumar Rawal.

Party leaders from Vidarbha region also expressed their concerns over the exclusion of minister of state Sanjay Dhotre from the Union government. Dhotre is considered to be a close confidante of Union minister Nitin Gadkari. The Kunbi community, which is dominant in Vidarbha, is already upset after tickets were denied to community leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule in 2019 Assembly polls as well as to Anil Sole in the Council polls last year. Dhotre’s exlusion could add to the resentment further as the party now has only one minister (Gadkari) representing 11 districts of the region.

Though none of the leaders have expressed their discontent openly, Munde’s supporters had gathered outside her Worli residence on Thursday. They spoke publicly against the party’s decision of not inducting Pritam, a two-term MP from Beed, the constituency represented by her late father Gopinath, who was a prominent BJP leader from Maharashtra. Several Munde supporters also expressed their anguish on social media posts. Few of them even held Maharashtra’s leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis responsible for Pritam’s exclusion from the cabinet expansion.

A visibly disgruntled Munde held a press conference to clarify that her family was not unhappy. “My family and I are not unhappy with the development and it is not true that we were vying for the cabinet berth. We did not contact any leader for the ministry. We accept the decision taken by the leadership as it is likely to be in the interest of the party. The party must have thought it necessary to expand the base. Even if a single vote is added in favour of the party, the step should be welcomed. Leaders who have got the berth are part of our family and are followers of later Gopinath Mundeji. I have already extended my wishes to them,” she said.

She, however, added that her and her father’s followers are unhappy. “I would not deny that followers and workers are unhappy. But I’ll try to pacify them,” she said.

When asked if Fadnavis’s imprint was there on the names picked from the state and if the chosen ministers were from ‘Team Devendra’, she said, “There is no Team Devendra or Team Narendra in our party. Nobody is above the party and the nation for us. I do not think there is any plan hatched to finish me politically.”

Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana in its editorial on Friday said that Pritam’s exclusion is an attempt by the BJP leadership to finish Munde politically. It also stated that choosing Dr Karad over Pritam was an attempt to divide OBCs in the state.

Responding to reports of leaders being upset, Fadnavis said, “We don’t have any factionalism or differences within the party. BJP doesn’t believe in cutting short to size to any leader. In fact, Dr Karad is an ardent follower of late Gopinathji Munde and I believe that like any other worker, Pankaja Munde will be happy with the decision [of inducting Dr Karad]. Pankajatai said in BJP, the nation is the supreme most and then comes the party and self. We all believe in the same doctrine.”

“Saamana’s jibe is not surprising as it has never been our well-wisher. The mouthpiece has never had any good words for BJP,” Fadnavis added.