Reiterating that she was firmly in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party national secretary Pankaja Munde on July 7 refuted speculation of her having met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.
“Since last few days, reports have been circulating of me joining the Congress. This is completely false. I have been a dedicated party worker for the last 20 years. Being the daughter of [late BJP stalwart] Gopinath Munde, betrayal does not run in my blood,” said Ms. Munde, speaking to reporters in Mumbai.
She said she had not met the Gandhi family personally in her life while warning she would file a defamation case against the local news channel for airing factually incorrect news that she had met the Congress leaders and hinting she was en route to joining the Congress party.
Ms. Munde further said that while leaders of many parties had recently made statements that they would welcome her if she joined them, she herself had no discussion with any leader of any party regarding leaving the BJP.
“I express displeasure at such news questioning my morality. My stance has always been above board. I do not like to do things in an underhand manner,” said Ms. Munde, a former Maharashtra Minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government (2014-19).
She further said that she would be taking a two-month break from hustle and bustle of politics in order to “introspect.”
Ms. Munde said she had never made any statement against the BJP nor done anything against the organization.
“In 2019, ever since I lost the [Maharashtra Assembly] election I have had to face rumours about my alleged disgruntlement with the party… While several persons even after their electoral defeats were given Rajya Sabha and Maharashtra Legislative Council posts, I have never claimed them nor expressed any disappointment. Twice I was told to be ready for the MLC post. But at the last minute I was asked not to file my papers. I duly obeyed these orders of the party high command. My followers expect me in some role. And that is natural. But I have personally never done anything against the organisation or made any statement against party,” she said.
Ms. Munde said that while leaders from many parties had spoken about offering her posts in their parties, she had taken them lightly till now.
“But the news circulating in the past few days that I would be joining the Congress and that a leader from Sangli had purportedly mediated my meeting with Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in Delhi has upset me…I have not had discussions about joining any party with anybody… Will not PM Modi or Amit Shah know about such news if I were indeed meeting someone or taking some step… I am a dedicated and principled worker of the party,” Ms. Munde said.
Recently, both Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and senior Congressman Vijay Wadettiwar had said they would welcome Ms. Munde if she joined the Congress, hinting she was being sidelined in the BJP.
Remarking that she had consistently practiced issue-based politics, Ms. Munde said the BJP brass would accommodate her as and when they thought she was fit for a particular role.
“In my political life, I have not made any statement designed to aggravate social tensions,” she said.
At the same time, she expressed her displeasure with the current state of politics in Maharashtra.
“There are people who betray their parties and justify their politics. I am not one of them…I think people are tired of the political scene…everyone is scrambling for power and positions and changing parties. But what about the people? About unemployment, about youth, about atrocities against women?” said Ms. Munde.
She said that while the original parties founded by Bal Thackeray (Shiv Sena) and Sharad Pawar (NCP) did not exist anymore, it was the duty of BJP leaders to ensure that the party founded by Deen Dayal Sharma and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was preserved.
In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, Ms. Munde had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of her estranged cousin, the Nationalist Congress Party’s Dhananjay Munde from the Munde’s bastion in Parli (in Beed).
It was said that the prime reason for Ms. Munde’s disgruntlement with the party was due to current Deputy Chief Minister (and then Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis’ ‘authoritarian style’ of running the BJP and eliminating his potential ‘rivals’ in a Machiavellian fashion.
Not just Ms. Munde, but also other OBC leaders within the BJP like Eknath Khadse (now in the NCP) had blamed Mr. Fadnavis for ‘engineering’ their defeats and denying them tickets.
Since then, Ms. Munde’s relationship with Mr. Fadnavis has been frigid at best, with the two rarely sharing the dais during a programme.
Speaking on Ms. Munde’s remarks made today, Mr. Fadnavis said that as a national secretary of the BJP and a senior leader, she had her personal opinions on certain matters.
“It is not possible for everyone in the BJP to accept the fact that the NCP [Ajit Pawar’s group], formerly our adversaries, have joined us…Our party top leaders will talk to Ms. Munde. She will continue leading our party,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
Dhananjay Munde, a close confidante of Ajit Pawar, was immediately made a Cabinet Minister after the rebel NCP leaders joined the BJP-Eknath Shinde government.
This has threatened Ms. Munde’s position in Parli, where her cousin Dhananjay is the MLA.
Soon after being sworn-in, Mr. Dhananjay called on his estranged cousin Pankaja Munde.
A video clip showing the latter greeting her cousin brother was tweeted by Mr. Munde, who said the relationship of brother and sister was sacrosanct and transcended politics.
