When Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis commented sarcastically in the state assembly during the recently concluded Budget Session, saying if the Opposition wanted a training to be effective, he was ready to provide one, and he could ask Sudhir Mungantiwar for that. The CM’s words did not come in jest if the recent developments involving Mungantiwar are to be followed.
Aggressive posturing by Mungantiwar and the cold shoulder towards the organisational issues reached a flashpoint on Sunday when he skipped an official function in Chandrapur to mark the BJP’s foundation day. Instead, he organised a separate event, sending the local party unit into a tizzy.
Former minister Shobhatai Fadnavis, a senior BJP leader and aunt of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, slammed him, saying, “People were queuing up to join the BJP, and if we keep fighting, will people not say that we have become like Congress?”
Shobhatai, who represented the Mul Assembly constituency for three consecutive terms from 1990 to 2004 and later became a member of the State Legislative Council, served as a minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government from 1995 to 1999.
Participating in the programme organised by local MLA Kishor Jorgewar, she said, “We have to maintain the identity of the BJP, which is in power at the Centre and Maharashtra, while there is infighting in Chandrapur.”
Mungantiwar was against inducting Jorgewar into the BJP before the state assembly elections held in November last. Despite that, Jorgewar was inducted, and he won the Chandrapur seat. Things went sour when Mungantiwar was denied a cabinet berth despite having been elected for the seventh consecutive term. He represents Ballarpur in the state assembly.
The party insiders say the sulking leader even refused to visit the party office in Vidhan Bhavan. He was not present on two occasions when Fadnavis paid visits to Chandrapur.
Interestingly, Mungantiwar was quite vocal in the state assembly during the Budget Session and did not mince words to criticise the government. He also moved several private member bills, a legislative weapon used mostly by the opposition, on different subjects such as religious conversions, love jihad, etc.
