Agencies
Mumbai, April 22:
Hours after senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde withdrew his resignation and the party extended support to his leadership in the state, Mumbai BJP president Madhu Chavan has been replaced by Gopal Shetty. Munde had rallied for the removal of Chavan.
Earlier ion the day, apparently bowing to pressure from party cadre and fearing the prospect of senior leader Gopinath Munde leaving the party, the BJP high-command had made it clear that Munde is the tallest leader in the state and would lead the party in the next Assembly elections. Munde, who is in Delhi, on his part has withdrawn his resignation after meeting party chief Rajnath Singh.
BJP's position was revealed by senior leader Bal Apte, who further added that these are internal matters of the party and would be resolved amicably.
Now the party has decided to remove Madhu Chavan as its Mumbai unit chief as his appointment last week had lead Munde to resign from the party. He was miffed for not being taken into confidence before the appointment of Madhu Chavan.
Incidentally, Munde, who had rebuffed party leaders by refusing to come to Delhi for talks, is in Delhi today to resolve issues with party chief Rajnath Singh. He held lengthy discussions with party chief before deciding to withdraw his resignation.
The BJP is for sure on the back foot as they would not like to lose a leader of the stature of Munde. He has also met LK Advani during his stay in the capital.
Munde has also decided to cancel his statewide tour that was scheduled to start from April 25.
Undoubtedly, Munde is one of the very few BJP leaders in Maharashtra who can claim to have some sort of mass base. He also has considerable support amongst the OBCs in the state.
Yesterday, Pandurang Phundkar and Eknath Khadse, two top associates of Munde, held close door discussions with top BJP leaders over the issue but the talks remained non conclusive.
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