Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Describing Gopinath Munde as a 8216;firebrand8217; mass leader of BJP, who has demonstrated 8216;self-respect8217; by resigning from his posts, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Tuesday advised him to exercise caution and 8216;look back8217; before taking a step forward in his political career.
8220;Gopinath always had and will continue to have my blessings. At present he is feeling suffocated in BJP. I hope BJP leadership will be able to persuade him,8221; Thackeray said in his editorial in Saamna, the party mouthpiece.
Munde, after his face-off with top BJP leadership, had declined to go to Delhi to meet the party president Rajnath Singh and had met Bal Thackeray at 8216;Matoshree8217;.
Thackeray said in the editorial that he did not wish to add fuel to the fire that was raging in the BJP folds following Munde8217;s resignation as it was the saffron party8217;s 8216;internal matter8217;.
8220;But the inferno that has engulfed BJP by Munde8217;s action itself cannot be brought under control even if one hundred fire fighters are pressed,8221; he added.
The Sena chief, nevertheless, said that Munde was justified in asking Rajya Sabha ticket for Rekha Mahajan, widow of the late Pramod Mahajan which went to Prakash Jawdekar.
8220;Since the murder of Mahajan, many close associates of the powerful leader including Munde were being sidelined by the BJP leadership,8221; Thackeray said noting that it was Mahajan who played a pivotal role in forging the over two-decade-old Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra and Munde endeavoured to sustain it.
Referring to the differences between Munde and Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Thackeray said, 8220;Perhaps Gadkari and Vinod Tawde former BJP Mumbai unit President might know the reasons behind Munde8217;s ire and suffocation within the party and his outburst that went against the RSS discipline which has moulded him politically.8221;
