MAHARASHTRA: PAIN POINTS

It was a scathing statement that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary and former Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde made earlier this month—one that could only have been a sign of festering wounds growing bigger.

- Dhaval Kulkarni

On May 31, at a public meeting organised in Delhi by the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), an ally of the BJP, Pankaja, the daughter of the late OBC stalwart and BJP leader Gopinath Munde, boldly declared, “I belong to the BJP, but the BJP does not belong to me.” On that same day, her sister and BJP’s Beed MP Pritam Munde broke ranks and came out in support of the wrestlers protesting against the Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Another statement bristling with intent, if not exactly dissent, followed barely days later. At an event to mark her father’s death anniversary on June 3, Pankaja said she’ll take up her grievances with Union home minister Amit Shah. “My leader is Amit Shah. I’ll meet him and have a freewheeling discussion,” she said.