BJP changes Mumbai guard, springs Gadkari surprise

This is probably for the first time in the BJP’s history, that a Brahmin has been chosen to head it in Maharashtra. Munde as well as his predecessors, Pandurang Phundkar, N.S. Pharande and Suryabhan Wahadane were either OBCs or Marathas.

Munde’s removal assumes political significance, as following the debacle of the Saffron combine in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the word was that he would soon be replaced.

Former BJP President Venkaiah Naidu had not made any move to replace Munde owing to the latters’ clout within the BJP. ‘‘Munde and Mahajan have been so powerful in Maharashtra that it was difficult to touch them. Under such circumstances, Munde’s removal has come as a surprise to all,’’ said a senior BJP leader not wishing to be named.

In fact, a few senior BJP leaders—including Anna Dange, who has since floated his own party, and Suryabhan Wahadane—had publicly criticised Munde and Mahajan for their autocratic style of functioning.

President of the Maharashtra BJP unit from 1985 to 1990, Munde successfully galvanised the party at the grassroots level. After this, he single-handedly took on the then CM, Sharad Pawar, with the result that the Sena-BJP dislodged the Congress in the 1995 elections.

Munde’s charisma however did not last, as was evident from the fact that in the 1999 and 2004 elections, the Saffron combine was badly mauled by the Congress-NCP.