PM, Amit Shah are my leaders: Pankaja Munde; says not using any pressure tactics

With many office-bearers of BJP from Beed district in Maharashtra resigning in protest against local MP Pritam Munde not finding a place in the newly-reshuffled Union cabinet, her sister and BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde on Tuesday dismissed reports that she was using any pressure tactics even as she hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda as her leaders.

With many office-bearers of BJP from Beed district in Maharashtra resigning in protest against local MP Pritam Munde not finding a place in the newly-reshuffled Union cabinet, her sister and BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde on Tuesday dismissed reports that she was using any ''pressure tactics'' even as she hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda as her leaders. Addressing BJP workers who came to Mumbai from Munde's home turf Beed and other parts of the state, Pankaja invoked the epic Mahabharata saying the time is not ripe for a ''dharmayudha'' and gave the reference to the righteous demands made by the Pandavas and how they were rejected by the Kauravas. ''....I will like to continue to work at a place as long as there is 'Ram' in it. If there is no Ram, I will see what to do,'' she said in Marathi. The word ''Ram'' is loosely used in public communication denoting whether it is worth doing some work.

Pankaja, daughter of BJP stalwart from Vanjari community late Gopinath Munde, also said she would always protect her fortress and keep it strong. Pankaja had served as Rural Development Minister during the BJP-led government from 2014 to 2019. She lost the 2019 Assembly polls from the Parli seat to her estranged cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde.

During her address in which she repeatedly appealed to the party activists to remember what the BJP has given them. ''I am not finished, my karyakartas are my strength'', she added. Pankaja on Sunday attended a meeting of BJP national secretaries in Delhi convened by Nadda and also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi with other office-bearers. After her address, when reporters asked her why she did not mention the name of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as her leader, Pankaja said, "I work at the national level and hence my leaders are Modi, Shah, and Nadda." She did not take names of either Fadnavis, current Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, or state BJP president Chandrakant Patil.