Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party national president was in for a rude shock on Dussehra while speaking at a rally in Beed, the domain of late Gopinath Munde's family. Supporters of rural development minister, Pankaja Munde, got aggressive and jostled their way to the dais, demanding Shah make Munde the next Chief Minister.
The supporters were stopped by the security guards but were allowed as Shah said they were BJP workers and they could come ahead to air their grievance.
This outburst by Pankaja's supporters will not be helping her case, considering prior to this, Pankaja has faced consequences for projecting herself as CM candidate.
Shah addressed his first public rally for Assembly polls, at Bhagwan Bhaktigad at Sawargaon, in Beed district. Among those present was Pankaja Munde, the rural development minister on Tuesday. The place where this rally was held has a religious significance for the Munde supporters and known as alternate Bhawangadh, a place revered by the Vanjara community, to which Pankaja belongs. Shah spoke about Article 370 and appealed to the BJP workers to spread the word on this achievement. But workers were in no mood to listen. They shouted slogans.
They were holding placards and pasted posters around the ground with the message, 'Maharashtra's probable CM' with Pankaja's photo and name. Even after Pankaja appealed to them to stop, they refused to calm down. Every time Shah mentioned the name of Pankaja, they echoed, "CM post" like rebuffing the speaker.
In 2014, after the state polls, Pankaja had said, she is the CM of the common people. This statement cost her dearly as, the CM Devendra Fadnavis cut her wings and removed her as the minister of water conservation.
Moreover, the irregularities in her department were leaked to the media to malign her, after which Pankaja maintained a low profile and publicly endorsed Fadnavis as her leader. But her supporters are not ready to compromise.
