Beed bypoll: Pankaja Munde accuses Opposition of trying to stir up communal tensions

BJP's Pankaja Munde faces a challenging contest in Beed, where the opposition aims to portray the election as a battle between communities. Despite the Maratha quota agitation, Pankaja claims the anger was against the system. She emphasizes her outreach to the OBC community, her father's legacy, but acknowledges the sensitivity of the reservation issue. Her main rival, Bajrang Sonawane (NCP), is a Maratha. Pankaja faces obstacles and rumors but remains optimistic, seeking to address concerns truthfully amidst the political faultline created by the Maratha quota demand.

Pankaja Munde, the BJP candidate from Beed, has claimed that the opposition is trying to make the contest in this central Maharashtra Lok Sabha constituency appear as a battle between two communities.

Beed district had witnessed several incidents of violence during the last year's Maratha quota agitation with protesters even targeting the houses of political leaders, especially, those of the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition.

The anger was against the system and whoever was a part of it, Pankaja told PTI in an interview on Thursday, conceding that it would not be a very easy contest.

''They (the opposition) have made it look like a battle between two communities. This is the only point they can make, so they are raising it subtly,'' the BJP leader, daughter of former Union minister late Gopinath Munde, said.

Perhaps sensing that a difficult contest was on hands, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave ticket to Pankaja this time, replacing her younger sister and two-time sitting MP Pritam Munde.

Taking lead from her father, who was a prominent OBC leader, Pankaja has also sought to project herself as a leader of the community in the state. Such positioning, however, makes things tricky for her in Beed in the backdrop of the quota agitation. Pankaja's main rival in the May 13 election in Beed is NCP (SP)'s Bajrang Sonawane, a Maratha.

''Every election is difficult in its own way. The situation is a bit critical (this time) and if I deny that, it will not be practical,'' Pankaja said.

''Some issues which are very sensitive have to be tackled sensitively. I have been doing that, and I think we will be successful in the end,'' she said, alluding to the reservation issue.

The politically dominant Maratha community's demand of quota has opened up a faultline in the state's politics as OBC leaders vehemently oppose the stand of Maratha leader Manoj Jarange that his community be included in the OBC category.

Pankaja claimed there were positive signs on the ground for her campaign but rumours were also being spread.

''I tackle the problem very truthfully. That is the way I address it,'' she said.