Former Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde says: 'I belong to BJP, but it's not my party'

Pankaja Munde, former Maharashtra minister and national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, stated on Thursday that while she is a member of the BJP, the party does not exclusively belong to her.

Following her loss in the 2019 assembly elections, Pankaja Munde, daughter of the late senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, has kept a relatively low public profile. During the tenure of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from 2014 to 2019, she served as a cabinet minister.

BJP big party, doesn't belong to me: Pankaja Munde

Munde, speaking at an event, raised many eyebrows when she said that BJP is a big party and doesn't belong to her. "I belong to the BJP. If I have a problem with my father, I will go to my brother's house," she said, pointing out at the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) led by Mahadeo Jankar.

Jankar, who happened to be a close associate of Gopinath Munde, said,  "Our community will not benefit due to my sister's party as the remote control will be with someone else." 

Pankaja sidelined in BJP in recent years

In recent years, there have been rumors and conjectures about Munde being marginalised within the state BJP. Following the initial expansion of the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis cabinet in August 2022, she expressed her thoughts, suggesting that she may not have possessed the necessary qualifications to secure a position.

During January, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule stated that certain individuals were attempting to sow discord between the party and Munde.

In the previous state elections, she faced defeat in her hometown of Parli to her estranged cousin and Nationalist Congress Party leader, Dhananjay Munde.