Beed rally: Munde aims for poll position as OBC face
MUMBAI: In a show of strength six months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, rural development minister and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Other Backward Class (OBC) face Pankaja Munde has planned a massive rally at Savargaon in Beed district, her home turf ,on Dussehra.
Munde will also unveil a 25-feet statue of a saint Bhagwan baba, revered by the Vanjari community that she leads, at a memorial dedicated to the saint and built by her here.
“If this (memorial and rally) becomes a power centre, what’s wrong ? The poorest of the poor — sugar cane migrant workers, landless labourers — come for the rally and go back with hope. I want the memorial to be a source of empowerment for them,’’ said Munde.
The Dussehra rally was a tradition started by Pankaja’s father, late BJP leader Gopinath Munde to mobilise his support base, at Bhagwangad, a pilgrimage site of the saint.
After his death, Pankaja, Munde’s political heir continued the tradition despite a power tussle with the spiritual head of the site, Namdeo Shastri.
For the past two years after Shastri stopped her rally at Bhagwangad saying it was off limits for politics, Munde in defiance held a rally at the foothills of Bhagwangad and the last one at Savargaon, where she vowed to build her own memorial for the saint.
Her rallies have gathered massive traction from the backward community, helping cement her father’s support base and emerge as the party’s tallest leader in Marathwada.
“I am glad people across the OBC samaj, Vanjaris, Telis, Malis and even a section of Marathas are coming under my umbrella at this rally,’’ she added, indicating that she was poll ready.
Munde hopes to “break her own record’’ this year by galvanising a huge crowd at Dusseha, where she will indirectly sound her campaign bugle.
While the rally is not organized as a BJP event, other BJP leaders and allies from the region especially those leading the OBCS will gather under her leadership here.
The BJP minister Ram Shinde, party ally and minister Mahadev Jankar, BJP MLA Suresh Dhas (Maratha), NCP rebel Jaydutt Kshirsagar will be some of the leaders on the dais besides her sister and Beed MP Preetam Munde.
“She faces a challenge next year in the Lok Sabha because Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is trying to corner her. Her cousin and opponent, NCP’S Dhananjay Munde is also a strong leader so she will have to win the Lok Sabha seat (represented by her sister). It’s a battle of prestige and this rally is to signal her strength to her political opponents,’’ said Abhay Deshpande, political analyst.
If Munde loses the Lok Sabha seat, she could face a tough time retaining her political influence in Beed district and Marathwada region. In the 2014 assembly polls, BJP managed to increase its seat share in the region from 2 to 15 seats (including five out six seats in Beed, Munde’s home town).
Over the past four years she has poached two senior NCP leaders from the district.
The NCP is now putting all its strength to reverse its political fortunes. The rally is just the beginning of a long-drawn political battle for Munde ahead of the elections.