Mumbai, Apr 24: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday said BJP leader Gopinath Munde by raising the banner of revolt had made his party restore democracy in its functioning.

"An important thing that had happened because of Munde is that democracy in the party which had been lost was restored," Thackeray said adding the BJP leadership buckled when Munde flexed muscles because the party did not want to lose Maharashtra due to internal squabbles.

After the episode Munde has emerged as a very strong leader in the state and there were none to match him, Thackeray said in an editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna.

There were attempts to finish off Munde politically but he rebelled and succeeded to make the party heed to his demand.

Headlined Dilli bhi Jhukti hai, the editorial said people like Uma Bharati and Madanlal Khurana did rebel but they were shown the doors.

"Uma Bharati who rebelled was shown the door while the rebellion of Khurana was crushed. Similarly the rebellion of Shankarsinh Waghela did not last long while rebel leader Keshubhai Patel failed to make any impact in the party."

In the backdrop of these, Munde's rebellion had become the "focal point" of discussion as people were wondering whether Munde's rebellion will be crushed like others or whether he will break the "obstinacy" of the BJP leadership in Delhi.

Thackeray also referred to Munde calling on him at his residence on the day of the incident but did not give any details of the meeting.

Munde had earlier resigned from all party posts, annoyed by the BJP high commands' decision to appoint Madhur Chavan as the chief of the Mumbai unit. He later withdrew his resignation after meeting with BJP leaders L K Advani and Rajnath Singh.