A day after the cabinet expansion, BJP is finding it difficult to explain that veteran party leader and former minister Gopinath Munde’s daughters Pankaja and Pritam are not unhappy and hurt. The trigger was Pritam, who is a second time MP from Beed, was sidetracked and Bhagwat Karad was inducted. Karad, a follower of Gopinath Munde, was elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time last year. Incidentally, Pritam and Karad hail from Vanjari community.
After the expansion, both the sisters did not congratulate Karad, nor tweeted about it. However, Pankaja, in her tweet, denied media reports that Pritam had left for Delhi. She said that they were gathered at her Mumbai residence.
Meanwhile, leader of opposition in the state assembly Devendra Fadnavis and leader of opposition in the state council Pravin Darekar has denied that the sisters are upset.
“Who told you Pankaja and Pritam are unhappy? Please do not defame them. In the BJP, our top leaders make decisions that are taken at the right time. Don’t try to discredit them when there is no reason to be upset,” said Fadnavis.
On the other hand, Darekar clarified that Pankaja and Pritam has openly not expressed their unhappiness.
Party insiders admitted that it was yet another attempt of the leadership to clip Pankaja’s wings as she had criticized the state leaders for her defeat in the assembly elections in 2019 and held them responsible for allegedly running a campaign that she was quitting the BJP. Pankaja was sulking over the denial of the party’s nomination for Rajya Sabha or state council elections. But she was rehabilitated in the party to assist Madhya Pradesh in-charge P Muralidhar Rao.
