Political circles abuzz after Pankaja Munde skips Fadnavis’s Marathwada tour

Recently, Munde had openly expressed her anger against Fadnavis and Maharashtra BJP unit chief Chandrakant Patil after her sister wasn’t given a ministerial berth during the Narendra Modi government’s cabinet expansion in July this year.

Maharashtra’s Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday began the tour to meet farmers in Marathwada districts affected by floods, but senior BJP leader Pankaja Munde kept away citing health reasons, raising speculation in the political circles.

Pankaja Munde (HT_PRINT)

“Unwell…tonsillitis n blisters in my throat advised strict voice rest for 2 to 4 days ... can’t take calls or meet in person..” Munde tweeted.

After beginning the tour from Washim in Vidarbha, Fadnavis went to Hingoli and Nanded on Saturday and will visit other districts of central Maharashtra on Sunday. Munde reportedly avoided joining other senior party leaders on the tour to show her discontent with the treatment meted out to her and her family over the last few years, a leader close to Munde said.

When asked about the buzz, Fadnavis said that the issue should not be politicised. “I will speak to her. She is not well and it could happen to anybody. I think nobody should give it a political colour,” he said.

Recently, Munde had openly expressed her anger against Fadnavis and Maharashtra BJP unit chief Chandrakant Patil after her sister and Beed MP Pritam wasn’t given a ministerial berth during the Narendra Modi government’s cabinet expansion in July this year.

“She believes that party’s state leaders like Fadnavis and Patil have been deliberately cutting her short to the size. She is under the impression that her defeat in the 2019 Assembly poll was engineered by her rivals within the party. Other OBC leaders in the party are being given a lift to undermine her importance, despite her being the OBC face of the party,” the leader close to Munde said.