BEED RALLY
MUMBAI : Ahead of the 2019 polls, rural development minister Pankaja Munde held a massive show of strength rally at Savargaon in Beed district on Thursday, signalling to her political opponents as well as her party colleagues and seniors not to take her for granted.
Flanked by nearly 16 sitting BJP legislators from Marathwada region and neighbouring areas like Ahmednagar and addressing a huge crowd of followers, largely from the other backward class (OBC), Munde said that her father was a “kingmaker and people placed her in a similar position”.
“I am not greedy for any position [indicating the CM’S post] but, yes I have an ambition that whoever sits in that chair, I should contribute the most to make his position strong. Mundesaheb [Gopinath Munde] was a kingmaker,” said Munde, who has been seen as CM aspirant since 2014. “You have given me similar position. I have to ensure that a government that is most beneficial to you comes to power.”
Flexing her political clout, the minister also took a jibe at the party’s internal survey on performance of BJP MPS and media reports on the same. A section in the media had reported that some MPS, including Munde’s sister Pritam, had fared badly in the survey and could lose in the coming polls.
“What’s in a paper? The real survey is here [pointing to the huge gathering]. Tickets are not given on the basis of a survey, they are given looking at the people [who follow you],” said Munde. “There are no alarm bells. There will only be victory bells here in 2019. The BJP will come to power in Delhi and in Maharashtra.”
The minister used the opportunity to slam her political opponent and cousin, Nationalist Congress Party’s Dhananjay Munde, without naming him. “Have you even filled a water tank? Or build a furlong of road for people? You believe in settlement and negotiation tactics”, she said.
Seen as Munde’s political heir, Pankaja has inherited her father’s loyal following among Vanzari community and the larger OBC community. She has also in the last four years emerged as the party’s OBC face and perhaps one of the few leaders with mass base in the state.
She used the rally this year to sound the bugle for the 2019 polls, promising her constituency of sugar cane labourers from Vanzari community an independent public sector undertaking with government investment of ₹100 crore. She also promised that Marathwada’s farmers, who were facing drought, would get support and compensation from her government. Her speech was peppered with development work done by her in the last four years and her father’s legacy.
The Dussehra rally is a continuation of her father’s tradition to celebrate saint Bhagwanbaba, revered by the Vanzari community and OBCS. But Munde on Thursday created her own power centre by shifting the venue of the rally to her own district in Beed and setting up an independent memorial for the saint. The rally used to be earlier held at Bhagwangad in Ahmednagar district.