Pankaja Munde, the sitting BJP MLA from Parli, is the daughter of late party veteran Gopinath Munde. (File)
A month after she raised the banner of revolt against the BJP, former minister Pankaja Munde appears to have climbed down, and accepted the present leadership of the party’s state unit.
On January 27, Munde will sit on a fast outside the collector’s office at Aurangabad with senior party leaders to highlight the water crisis in Marathwada region.
Munde will also be part of the 15-20 member state unit team sent for Assembly elections in Delhi. The decision was taken by the core committee leaders.
On December 12, 2019, Munde in a public meeting convened to commemorate the birth anniversary of her father and former Union minister late Gopinath Munde had virtually revolted against the BJP. At the meeting held at Beed district in Marathwada, Munde had quit from the core committee of the party. She had declared that “BJP belonged to her father”.
The eldest of Gopinath Munde’s three daughters, Pankaja had been sulking after losing the Assembly elections from Parli (Beed district) to her estranged cousin, NCP’s Dhananjay Munde. She had, often in the past, publicly alleged her defeat was plotted by insiders in BJP.
She had threatened to set up a separate office and work out her own plan, and declared she would go on a statewide tour to connect to people and assert her own identity. However, it seems that within a month she has been placated by senior party leaders.
State BJP general secretary Sujitsingh Thakur said, “Pankaja Munde will stage a day-long fast and protest outside the collector’s office at Aurangabad to demand the rightful share of water for drought hit Marathwada region of Maharashtra.”
Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union minister Raosaheb Danve, former state Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde and Leader of Opposition in state council Pravin Darekar will be present during the protest.
