The Hindu : National : Munde withdraws resignation

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Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008
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National

Munde withdraws resignation

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The BJP’s Maharashtra leader Gopinath Munde on Tuesday withdrew his resignation as national general secretary even as the central leadership promised him that the newly appointed president of the BJP Mumbai unit Madhu Chavan would be persuaded to resign. By evening Mr. Chavan was replaced by Gopal Shetty.

After this compromise formula was worked out at meetings here, Mr. Munde and State unit president Nitin Gadkari said they would work “shoulder to shoulder” to make the party stronger in Maharashtra. Since it was Mr. Chavan’s appointment that led to Mr. Munde’s resignation, his replacement demonstrated that Mr. Munde was able to make his point.

Earlier a clear indication of the compromise was given by Mr. Gadkari, as he emerged from a meeting at the residence of BJP chief Rajnath.

“Munde is our leader and we will contest the [next] elections under his leadership. We will take a decision on the office of Mumbai unit president after discussing the matter with all concerned.”

A senior leader told The Hindu that another part of the compromise was the setting up of a new expanded coordination committee in Maharashtra that would include the four State general secretaries, besides Mr. Munde, Mr. Gadkari, Mr. Khadse and Mr. Phundkar.

After Mr. Munde arrived here in the morning, he drove to the residence of Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani and then met senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu. Later at the residence of Mr. Singh, Mr. Munde made a formal announcement that he was withdrawing his resignation.

Through the day Mr. Gadkari, Mr. Munde, and leaders of the two Houses in the Assembly, Eknath Khadse and Pandurang Phundkar met Mr. Advani, Mr. Naidu and Mr. Singh individually and collectively. At various stages other leaders, including Ram Naik and Prakash Javadekar, were involved. Several MLAs, corporators and others from different cities had come out in support of Mr. Munde.

Mr. Munde apologised for airing his grievances in public and through the media instead of talking to senior leaders. He said this should not have happened.

After a series of meetings involving senior central leaders and Maharashtra leaders, Mr. Rajnath Singh said: “The confusion is over. The Maharashtra unit of the party has always worked together and it will do so again. There was a communication gap that led to the problem.”

The conclusion was that the party could not afford to sideline or annoy Mr. Munde, who had threatened to take along with him a sizeable chunk of members owing allegiance to the slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, and now to Mr. Munde, who is his brother-in-law.

Ironically, the crisis was resolved on the very day Mahajan was shot at in his Mumbai flat exactly two years ago, a senior party leader noted.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said although the BJP’s crisis was “primarily an internal matter of the party,” it did reflect the “exclusivist syndrome of the BJP” showing the “real face of the party that was hardly pro-Dalit or pro-backward caste.” He was perhaps commenting on the fact that Mr. Munde, a backward caste leader, was feeling sidelined.

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