Munde plays OBC card, meets Bhujbal as Maratha protests gain ground

Women and children development minister and senior BJP leader Pankaja Munde met senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal at JJ Hospital on Wednesday morning.

Women and children development minister and senior BJP leader Pankaja Munde met senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal at JJ Hospital on Wednesday morning, sparking speculations of a possible coming together of the Other Backward Class leaders in the state against the backdrop of the silent protest marches of the Maratha community.

Pankaja and Bhujbal belong to the Vanjari and Mali communities and fall under the Other Backward C lasses (OBC) category (HT File Photo)

Pankaja met Bhujbal, who is under arrest in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan scam but admitted to the hospital recently after he complained of fever, before starting for her scheduled tour of Mokhada in Palghar that has been in the news for malnutrition deaths.

Pankaja and Bhujbal belong to the Vanjari and Mali communities and fall under the Other Backward C lasses (OBC) category. Pankaja’s father Gopinath Munde and Bhujbal were regarded as the tallest OBC leaders in the state and had come together in the past on a united OBC platform just when they were getting sidelined in their own parties.

Political observers say Panjaka’s overtures to Bhujbal can be read from two different angles.

The meeting between the two OBC leaders may help the ruling party to offset some steam from the ongoing chain of agitations by Marathas. Personally, this may help Pankaja to claim her position as the sole voice of the OBC community just when it is unsettled due to the Maratha agitation. It will help her bolster her position in the party by playing the OBC card.

“Pankaja has been sidelined in her party and the government by the Fadnavis camp. After the Khadse episode, the OBC leaders in the government are hurt. The Munde-Bhujbal meeting seems to be a systematic attempt to lend a voice to the unrest,” said Hemant Desai, a political analyst.

Though the BJP has reacted cautiously, the NCP said that it’s time for the government to rectify its mistakes by putting Bhujbal in jail.

“Munde must have realised about the injustice done to Bhujbal. She should now convince the CM and help in getting the OBC leader bail,” said NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik.

Bhujbal has been in jail for more than five months for alleged irregularities in the Maharashtra Sadan construction that is being probed by the Anti Corruption Bureau.

It may be recalled that Pankaja’s father and senior BJP leader late Gopinath Munde shared political ties and once had announced his desire to forge an OBC front.