Munde rebuilding BJP from Oppn bench

PUNE, FEB 8: Out of the State Deputy Chief Minister's office, Gopinath Munde is a busy man now. The one-point agenda for the pre-1995 fier...

PUNE, FEB 8: Out of the State Deputy Chief Minister8217;s office, Gopinath Munde is a busy man now. The one-point agenda for the pre-1995 fiery leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly is to rebuild the BJP8217;s bygone days in Opposition.

BJP8217;s State unit chief Suryabahn Vahadane Patil rushing to eastern Satara last week following an attack on BJP8217;s Satara unit chief, was dubbed as a part of Munde8217;s ambitious build-the-tempo plan. This was required to 8220;pass on a message to the last layer,8221; as a senior BJP functionary puts it.

However, for Munde his endeavour meant much more. Not prepared psychologically to don the robe of party8217;s state unit chief, the former deputy chief minister wants to recreate the pre-1995 Assembly election ambience, which had set a punishing schedule for then state chief minister Sharad Pawar.

8220;We will target the state government,8221; Munde told The Indian Express. Taking to the street during the Cabinet meeting at Aurangabad early this week, Munde now plans an offensive againstthe government over the hike in prices of essentials. The BJP plans to take up this issue, he added.

Munde8217;s sangharsh yatra in 1994, planned with elections in mind, had targeted the Pawar government for criminalisation of politics, corruption issues highlighted by G R Khairnar and others, the contentious Enron deal, sale of textile mill lands in Mumbai, sex rackets in Jalgaon, Parbhani and other parts of the State and above all Singaporisation of Mumbai.

The situation was invigorated by killing of 113 Gowari tribals in a lathi-charge and subsequent stampede while the State Assembly was in session in Nagpur in November 1994. Munde criticised the Deshmukh Government8217;s decisions in its first 100 days. Scrapping the subsidies given to supply of essentials through the public distribution system would be the worst, he said adding that the BJP already has taken up other farmer-related issues like cotton procurement.