Defiant Munde keeps BJP guessing: plays caste card, meets Bhujbal, Thackeray

Later in the day, Munde visited Matoshree, the home of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. He told reporters earlier that Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray had called him on Sunday, asking him to reconsider his decision in the interest of the saffron alliance.

From the Vanjari community de-notified tribe in Maharashtra, regarded as an OBC caste elsewhere, Munde hit at the very ideological moorings of the Parivar he has stayed with for over four decades: 8220;I want to make the BJP more Bahujan-oriented.8221; If the idiom was borrowed from the BSP lexicon, the target was clearly his rival and state BJP president Nitin Gadkari, a Brahmin by birth.

Munde made it a point to break bread with another OBC leader, NCP8217;s Chhagan Bhujbal. NCP8217;s tribal leader Madhukar Pichad and Tourism Minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil were also there. He was also in talks, sources said, with the NCP leadership.

Munde said he would quit the state Assembly and undertake a statewide Samvad Yatra establishing a dialogue with the masses. He told his confidants that he would float his own outfit if he found the going smooth during the yatra. A senior BJP leader, keeping tabs on the maharashtra developments, however, made light of the claim, saying it was some 8220;smart muscle flexing at best8221;.

Munde8217;s supporters were clearly not impressed. 8220;He has the support of 51 of 55 MLAs in the state, and almost all the party MPs from the state. Yet he has been given short shrift in the last two years. The names he suggested for the corporators8217; elections were shot down. That he was taken into confidence for the Mumbai BJP chief8217;s election is not entirely true,8221; a Munde aide told The Indian Express. 8220;He has no ill-will against the newly-elected Mumbai BJP chief, Madhu Chavan, but the central BJP must show that Munde8217;s views count,8221; added another aide.

While Munde decided against visiting Delhi today 8212; aware of the political implications of his move, the BJP top brass, including L K Advani and Rajnath Singh, met this morning and called Munde and Gadkari for talks 8212; he sent two of his confidants, Eknath Khadse and Pandurang Phundkar, for talks. Gadkari and senior leader Ram Naik were already there in Delhi by then.

Maintaining that he would continue to be a party worker, Munde said he had 8220;taken a stance8221; and not 8220;rebelled8221;. He said he decided not to go to Delhi because he wanted the discussions to take place in 8220;an impartial and open environment8221;. 8220;Besides, it is a meeting of leaders and I am just a party worker.8221;

Munde said his differences with the party lay mainly at the state level, hinting at his rivalry with the Gadkari camp. 8220;I was removed as state president and a new chief Gadkari was brought in without my knowledge. Even Pramod Mahajan came to know about it from newspaper reports next day.8221; He claimed that Mahajan too was against Gadkari8217;s appointment and had conveyed his unhappiness to the central leadership.

Munde said he had told the party leadership that all organisational decisions should be taken in a democratic manner. 8220;But there was no response to my suggestions. In the last two to four years, the party has not taken up a single programme to fight for the common man.8221;

Questioning the claim of consensus decision, Munde pointed out: 8220;When Pandurang Phundkar was made the state president, the majority wanted me. But the majority viewpoint was not considered.8221;

He said the three-member committee to decide on appointing the new Mumbai BJP president was not set up on his demand, but that of the state president. 8220;I was informed about the committee. I did not object, but it is not necessary that I will accept the decision of the committee,8221; he said.

He denied had fallen out with the RSS which led to his being sidelined in BJP8217;s organisational affairs. He said he was also an RSS swayamsevak. 8220;Earlier the Jan Sangh was a small cadre-based party, and I am part of those people who transformed it into a mass-based one,8221; he said, adding he had given the party a 8220;Bahujan face8221; and not just an 8220;OBC one8221;.

Poonam Mahajan, daughter of Munde8217;s late brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan, told The Indian Express: 8220;We need Mundeji to lead the BJP in the state. We will be able to persuade him.8221;