Pankaja munde asked to reconsider ‘political break’ as m p elections loom

Pankaja munde asked to reconsider ‘political break’ as m p elections loom

BJP national secretary and former Minister in the Maharashtra government Panjaka Munde, who recently announced her decision to take a break for ‘one-two month’ from politics, has been asked by the party’s top leadership in New Delhi to “immediately reconsider” her decision, especially in light of the crucial Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections on the horizon.

Ms. Munde, along with the former general secretary of the BJP, P. Muralidhar Rao, was given charge of the State, butsince the announcement of a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Ajit Pawar faction joining the NDA government in the State, Ms. Munde has publicly declared her intention to take a sabbatical.

State leaders said that Ms. Munde was uncomfortable with the inclusion of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) rebel leader Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs, including her estranged cousin Dhananjay Munde, in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.

Mr. Munde is a close confidant of Mr. Ajit Pawar and in the 2019 Assembly election, defeated his cousin, Ms. Pankaja Munde, from the family pocket borough of Parli in Beed district, and was allotted the Agriculture portfolio recently.

Sources within the party have disclosed that Ms. Munde received a call from a prominent party leader from Delhi expressing concern over her decision to step away from her political responsibilities without consulting the senior leadership. “It was not a very friendly call,” said the source.

“The party leadership was surprised when she announced her decision to take a temporary break from politics. She should have consulted her immediate political bosses in Delhi as well as Mumbai before taking a call. As co-in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, her role is significantly important, given the approaching elections in the State,” a senior leader told The Hindu.

He also confirmed that the 43-year-old former MLA had received a call from a top leader who asked her to retract her decision immediately and take up the responsibilities in Bhopal.

‘No call from Delhi’

“We are informed that her response was not clear,” the BJP leader said. When contacted for confirmation, Ms. Munde said that her break was not from social or political life, but from the “hustle and bustle of politics in order to introspect what is happening” and denied getting any call from Delhi. “I have never worked against the party’s interest, and I’m not going to do so,” she reiterated.