Mumbai: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopinath Munde is in Mumbai for a show of strength after his meeting with top party leaders in New Delhi failed to yield results in his favour. Following Munde's dissent, the BJP called a meeting of all its Maharashtra MPs, MLAs, MLCs and office bearers.
Munde was not present at the meeting even though he is the Lok Sabha MP from Beed in the state. But some of his supporters attended the meeting.
Maharashtra BJP unit chief Sudhir Mungantiwar, while addressing the meeting, said that all the leaders were with the party and it has been decided that those with any problems will discuss this privately with Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse and him.
Khadse will leave to New Delhi on Tuesday evening and will discuss the outcome of the meeting with senior party leaders. He also said that Munde will not leave the party.
"Munde is in the party and with the party. There is no question of him leaving the party. Munde is our leader and news of talks failing are just rumouring. The talks are going on in a positive direction," said Khadse.
Sources say Munde is insisting on being made the leader of the opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and has also proposed to swap his Lok Sabha seat with his daughter Pankaja, who is a state MLA .
Sources also say that while the BJP is reluctant to give into those demands, they have agreed to give him a greater say in state politics and assured him that the next Vidhan Sabha election will be fought under his leadership.
Munde is also reported to be in touch with the Congress leadership but the BJP is trying to bring an amicable settlement between him and president Nitin Gadkari.
Earlier on Sunday, a sulking Munde had met Gadkari in New Delhi. He also met LK Advani. But talks remained inconclusive with both Munde and Gadkari sticking to their stand over appointment of their men in key posts in Maharashtra and hold over party politics in the state.
Munde, who is the BJP's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha and the party's most prominent OBC face in Maharashtra, wants a greater say in the party's affairs.
But Gadkari, who also hails from Maharashtra, is not favour of Munde have a more prominent role in state politics. Gadkari is reported to be planning to remove Munde's close associate Pandurang Phundkar and appoint Vinod Thawade in his place as Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad.
Munde is against such a move and he is also unhappy over the appointmentof Vikas Mathkari in place of his candidate Yogesh Gogawale to the post of BJP Pune city chief.
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