Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pankaja Munde on Monday removed the party’s name from her Twitter biography a day after she spoke about a “changed political scenario” in Maharashtra and the need to introspect on a future course of action.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Munde wrote: “Looking at the changed political scenario in state, there is a need to think and decide the way ahead. I need time for some 8 to 10 days to communicate with myself. Our future journey need to be decided against the backdrop of current political changes.”
“What to do next,” she asked. “Which path to be taken? What can we give to people? What is our strength? What are expectations of people?”
She said she would return before December 12, the 60th birth anniversary of her father – late senior BJP leader and former Union minister Gopinath Munde. She also invited her supporters to Gopinathgad for a service.
The 40-year-old leader had served as minister of Rural and Women, Child Development in the previous Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government. She lost to her cousin and Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde by more than 30,000 votes in the elections held in October. Both of them were involved in a bitter election campaign in Maharashtra.
In her post, Munde wrote that she had accepted her loss in the polls and moved on. “I had attended the meetings of the party [BJP],” the former MLA from Parli constituency said.
BJP spokesperson Shirish Boralkar denied any rifts between the party and Munde. “I have read the Facebook post of Pankaja Munde,” he said. “This post nowhere conveys that Pankaja is not happy with the BJP. She attended the core committee meetings of the BJP. She is a daughter of Gopinath Munde who had contributed immensely in building the BJP in the state.”
He added that Munde will continue with her work to make BJP stronger in Maharashtra.
BJP’s Maharashtra unit President Chandrakant Patil also said Munde was not quitting party, and called the reports baseless, PTI reported.
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the 19th chief minister of Maharashtra last week after a month of political twists and turns in the state. He will lead an alliance of the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. The alliance is known as the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi.
The new ruling coalition was formed after former allies BJP and the Shiv Sena could not reach a power-sharing agreement following Assembly elections in October. The Shiv Sena had won 56 seats, and along with the NCP’s 54 MLAs and the Congress’s 44, it was able to form a government.
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