Mumbai: It does seem as though Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP from Beed, Dr Pritam Munde by once again raking up the self-decided rightful claim of her elder sister Pankaja Munde as the first woman Chief Minister of Maharashtra has apparently not gone down well with the party leadership. Troubles could well be mounting for the Munde sister’s as the party leadership is unhappy over what some feel “orchestrated” campaign to project Minister for Women and Child Development, Pankaja Munde as Maharashtra’s first woman chief minister.
It all began with a “rowdy”, “orchestrated” sloganeering at BJP president Amit Shah’s rally at Bhagwangadh, near Sawargaon in Beed district on October 8. Sources in the partys Beed district unit disclosed that a crowd of supporters sitting to the right of the dais were continuously interjecting Shah’s speech with slogans calling for Pankaja Munde to be made the next and first woman chief minister of Maharashtra. Although Shah did not openly react to the sloganeering, the intent of it must surely have registered on his mind.
But on Friday while responding to a “suggested query” from a section of the media on her reaction over Pankaja Munde’s claim to be the first woman chief minister of the state, Dr Pritam Munde though initially argued that it was for the party leadership to decide. But then went on to add that her elder sister had all the credentials to be the first woman chief minister of the state and that she did not see any other worthy claimant to the post. The pitch of the query and the response was not lost on anyone.
Sources in Beed district BJP argue that such kind of pressure tactics on the party leadership in the changed scenario is not going to work of the Munde sister’s. Devendra Fadnavis has been the pick of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah for the chief ministers post. This is not the first time that Pankaja Munde has made such a claim, post 2014 assembly election results, she had for sometime had been quite vocal about being the worthy claimant to the top post.
These claims by the Munde sister’s amounts to challenging the decision of both Modi and Shah the wrong way, sources added. The party sources added that Shah recently has made it very clear to everybody that Fadnavis will once again be the next chief minister. “She could have evaded this query, just as she did other queries from the media. Pankaja has still a long way to go and establish her credentials, she is young and has another 40 years of active politics before her. There is no need for her to be over-confident and egoistic now”, the source remarked further.
Sources further disclosed that the often high handed behavior of the Munde sister’s is putting off the electorate, who are finding her estranged cousin brother, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), MLC and leader of opposition, Dhananjay Munde. The BJP source added “being a lady and added to that not being accessible enough is driving people towards Dhananjay Munde who is ready to help. The contest between the brother and her sister this time for Parli assembly seat is a closely fought contest. Moreover, her victory margin in 2014 compared to that of 2009 polls has come down drastically”.
Dr Pritam Munde tried hard to down play there being any crisis in their camp. When asked about both Modi and Shah holding election rallies for her elder sister Pankaja, she denied that there was any crisis in the party. She further argued that the development works they have done in the last five years are enough testimony of their performance as legislators. Dr Pritam Munde in a belated move tried to argue that it was up to the party leadership to take a call on who should be the next chief minister.
