Sidelined Eknath Khadse meets sulking Pankaja Munde

Mumbai: Disgruntled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Eknath Khadse Wednesday met Pankaja Munde at her residence in Mumbai. Like Mr Khadse, she too is said to be unhappy with the party for deliberately sidelining her.

Before meeting Ms Munde, Mr Khadse said that she was not leaving the party. “Ms Munde and I are of the opinion that some BJP leaders tried to defeat her and Rohini. I have informed state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil about it,” he said.

However, Mr Khadse also added that the meeting with Ms Munde was a non-political in nature.

“It was meeting between our families. We have had familial relations for many years,” he said.

Earlier, another BJP leader Vinod Tawde, who was denied a ticket in the Assembly elections, had met Ms Munde after ex-MLA Prakash Shendge alleged that she was being targetted for belonging to the OBC community. Mr Shendge went to extent of alleging that the BJP had even decided to remove her father late Gopinath Munde from the party but later dropped the plan.

BJP leaders such as Chandrakant Patil, Babanrao Lonikar and Ram Shinde, too, had met Ms Munde and made it clear that she was not leaving the party.

On her part, Ms Munde dismissed reports of quitting the BJP and said that she was a loyal worker of the party. She clarified that the people and the media had misinterpreted her Facebook post.

Ms Munde contested from Parli and lost to her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde.