Devendra Fadnavis vs Pankaja Munde war comes out in open

Munde declared that she was avoiding a 'dharma-yuddha'

The Devendra Fadnavis versus Pankaja Munde cold war came out in open on Tuesday with the former Maharashtra minister and Marathwada stalwart declaring that she was avoiding a “dharma-yuddha” – as the Pandavas did against Kauravas.

“I may have lost (the 2019 Vidhan Sabha) elections…I am not finished yet,” she said addressing party workers in a show of strength outside her Worli home in Mumbai.

Once a contender for the Chief Minister’s post, Pankaja, lost the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls from the family seat of Parli against her estranged cousin Dhananjay Munde of NCP – who is seen close to Fadnavis, the then chief minister and now Leader of Opposition in Assembly.

“I do not run after chair…I will continue to work for people as my father and our leader Gopinath Munde told us…he guided us, he taught us not to run to become mantris and santris but work for people,” said Pankaja, a veteran politician and OBC leader from the Marathwada region of the state.

Pankaja, currently a national secretary of the party, was expecting that her sister and Beed MP Dr Pritam Munde would be accommodated in the Cabinet reshuffle that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre undertook last week.

Read: Pankaja Munde stages show of strength,

The Mundes were bypassed and Rajya Sabha MP Bhagwat Karad was instead inducted in the central ministry to promote a new OBC leadership.

After this, several of her supporters in the Marathwada region sent in their resignations, which she rejected. “I do not believe in pressure politics,” she said.

"I will keep on trying to avoid the 'dharma-yuddha' till the maximum extent possible....the day I feel 'Ram' is not here...will think...," she said amid thunderous applause.

During her address, she thanked leaders like state BJP president Chandrakant Patil, leader of opposition in Council Pravin Darekar and Ashish Shelar.

Later, when reporters asked whether Fadnavis was her leader, she said: “I work at the national level…hence Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda are my leaders.”