In Maharashtra, Munde gives BJP a jolt, quits all posts

While Munde said he had spoken to party president Rajnath Singh early in the day, his resignation had not been received till late in the evening. BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley told The Indian Express that Singh would speak to Munde and that “things would be sorted out”.

The immediate provocation appears to have been the appointment of Madhu Chavan as the city BJP chief. Chavan is said to be close to Munde’s bete noire and state BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. Munde favoured the party Mumbadevi MLA, Raj Purohit. “He has not been taken into confidence on a host of issues,” a source close to Munde said.

The senior BJP leader is also said to be unhappy over the denial of a Rajya Sabha seat to late Pramod Mahajan’s wife Rekha, while he would have preferred his own candidate for the MLC seat that eventually went to Vinod Tawde. The last straw, sources say, was the elevation of Smriti Irani as national secretary.

A three-member committee comprising party vice-president Bal Apte, former national treasurer Ved Prakash Goyal and Maharashtra BJP stalwart Ram Naik had proposed Chavan’s name as Mumbai BJP chief. The panel was set up with the concurrence of Munde and Gadkari. Defending the move to appoint Chavan, Naik told The Indian Express: “We spoke to around 90 Mumbai BJP office-bearers and tried to arrive at a consensus.”

While the central BJP had sent V Satish to talk to Munde’s group, the latter was reportedly not mollified.

A senior leader close to Munde said it was naivety to equate him with others like Gadkari. “Apart from being the BJP’s OBC mascot, Munde is its only mass leader in the state, and thus he must be accorded his due he said.

The central BJP does not deny Munde’s importance, or challenge that he may be aiming for a bigger pie ahead of the elections. “He’s been our deputy chief minister and will be our face during the elections. This alone explains the muscle-flexing,” said a top leader.

While the BJP had made him in-charge of Rajasthan and Goa, Maharashtra remained Munde’s primary interest. However, he had never quite filled the shoes of brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan, who was instrumental in forging the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. It was after Mahajan’s death that rival camps, including that led by Gadkari, grew more assertive in Maharashtra.

Many in the Maharashtra BJP, in fact, talk of Munde’s limited political options if he quit the party, “for he had outgrown all other established political parties”.

Munde represents Renapur in the state Assembly and may contest from Beed in the next Lok Sabha elections. He belongs to the Vanjari community, having a significant presence in Marathwada.