Pankaja not named CM nominee, Munde supporters unhappy

Shah’s revelation that the party had decided to project Gopinath Munde as the CM candidate before his untimely death was the only solace for his supporters.

“Pankaja tai should become the first woman CM of Maharashtra. We had high hopes about hearing the same from the BJP president,” said 27-year-old Sham Kawale, who had come all the way from Parali in Beed district to attend the event.

Santosh Dhakane, another supporter from Georai in Beed, said Pankaja was the “perfect replacement” for Gopinath Munde as the CM nominee.

One Ganesh Hodshil from Kharda in Ahmednagar said: “Pankaja tai had rejected the offer to become Union minister after the death of her father as she wants to work for Maharashtra. The huge public response during her tour substantiates her emergence as a mass leader.”

Earlier in the day, she addressed a rally marking the end of her three-week tour in which she had covered 79 Assembly segments in 21 districts.

Speaking at the event, she made an emotional appeal seeking votes to fulfil “the dreams” of her late father. “My father dreamt of power not for himself, but for the downtrodden and poor of Maharashtra,” she said, and added that the tour gave her courage to cope with the trauma of her father’s demise.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader and Ghatkopar MLA Ram Kadam joined the BJP Thursday in the presence of Amit Shah at the latter Vijay Sankalp rally in Pune. He said he was sidelined in the MNS and that he wanted to work under the leadership of Narendra Modi now.

At both rallies, Shah chose not to mention Shiv Sena.