22 June,2011 06:45 AM IST | | Ravikiran Deshmukh
With its wafer-thin majority over Shiv Sena as Opposition Leader in state hanging in the balance, BJP is trying hard to mollify Munde, who could be kingmaker in next elections
Gopinath Munde is unappeasable. Shuttling between Delhi and Mumbai in the past few days, Munde stopped long enough to catch his breath and clarify that he is with the BJP. Nonetheless, rumour mills are spinning wildly.
Gopinath Munde speaks to the press outside his Worli residence
As of last night, the BJP's efforts to cross over the chasm and draw the mutinying OBC leader back into its fold seemed ineffectual, sources said. The failure to touch base with him may well lead the party to plummet down that very chasm, and for two good reasons.
Two is all it takes
First, a cross-section of the party wants Munde to decide his future course at the earliest. But should the OBC frontline leader defect and manage to tow along even a single MLA, the BJP, with 46 seats in the state Assembly, will lose its position as Leader of the Opposition to Shiv Sena, which is currently fielding 44 MLAs.
Second, another faction in the party wants Munde to stay back and fight with the Congress-NCP combine. His presence would strengthen the Shivshakti-Bhimshakti, the grand alliance comprising the RPI and the saffron brigade.
And if he deserts, the Congress is in for a windfall, while the saffron parties may have serious trouble retaining their reign in the BMC.
The concerns seem more immediate after party head honchos failed to negotiate any ground with Munde, in meeting after meeting. The party's central unit seems to have washed its hands off the destabilising undercurrent altogether, rejecting certain demands of the frontline leader.
After a late night meeting in New Delhi at LK Advani's house on Sunday, the centre of the vortex was tossed back to Mumbai yesterday.
That is where the latest disheartenment came, after a meeting of BJP MLAs, MLCs and MPs called at noon at the Vidhav Bhavan ended on a more discordant note than it had touched off at.
At the daylong meeting, Munde's myrmidons raised their voice, drowning all others, over the status quo. The congregation had to be wound up within a few minutes.u00a0
Soon after the meeting, the confrontation-conciliation process was shifted to the party's state headquarters at Nariman Point, followed by a follow-up meeting at the Purna building in Worli where Munde resides.
Later in the night, it was back to the North Bloc for the disgruntled Munde, who flew out to the national capital with his cards close to his chest.
But before leaving, Munde vehemently denied that he was seeking to be Leader of the Opposition, a position currently held by Eknath Khadse.
At State Council
Not long after the meeting at Vidhan Bhavan began with a prologue by senior BJP MLA Girish Bapat, followed by Khadse's brief elucidation on current developments, senior MLA Sambhaji Pawar, a Munde supporter, posed a question as to what the motive was behind the meeting.
He was egged on in his quest by MLAs Prakash Shendge, Vijakumar Deshmukh and Madhuri Misal. Khadse responded that one-to-one dialogue with each one of the MLAs was improbable, hence the meeting.
It was presumed that Munde's henchmen would not attend the meeting, but they showed up, putting the party in a bigger fix.
Khadse also spoke of placating efforts to satisfy Munde and of caution in conduct since the issue was avidly being reported by the media.
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"If anyone wants to speak they can come to my chamber where the Leader of Opposition in State Council Pandurang Phundkar and state unit chief Sudhir Mungantiwar will be present," said Khadse.
MLAs Shendge, Misal, Munde's daughter Pankaja, and Prakash Mehta lapped up the offer to air their views.
Before leaving the Bhavan, Khadse claimed the party was intact and Munde was very much part of it. Then, along with Phundkar and Mungantiwar, he rushed to meet Munde at Worli.
In the capital
Later in the day, as Munde left for New Delhi, it was gathered from the grapevine that he had a rendezvous with some Congress leaders.
The rumours were confounded when CM Prithviraj Chavan also left for Delhi around the same time. Sources claimed he got in touch with Chavan and MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre. Chavan's sudden decision to dash to the capital is said to be to facilitate talks with the BJP leader.
As per the unwritten rules in the Congress, no talks can take place in the absence of a green signal by the party high command. It's said that his case will go first to Ahmad Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi.
Munde has established contact through ex-BJP MP Haribhau Rathod who joined Congress before the 2009 General Elections.
Incidentally, both Rathod and Thakre hail from Yavatmal district.
According to a Congress leader, should Munde pick Congress to court him, he may not come bundled with a striking number of MLAs as chaperones, but it would be enough to disturb the delicate balance against the saffron alliance, and NCP's future plans, if any, to weaken the Congress.
However, a close aide of Munde's alleged that the leader was expected to meet former BJP president Lal Krishna Adwani.
Before leaving for Delhi, Munde said he did not aspire for the Opposition leader's post in the state. "I am still with the BJP. I pity those spreading false rumours against me." Then, he said, reportedly deeply hurt, "I was not invited for today's meeting."
Story so far
After Pramod Mahajan's exit, his brother-in-law and senior leader Gopinath Munde began feeling more alienated in the party by the day and he was being likened to a volcano waiting to erupt.
When the party announced that Madhu Chavan would take over as the Mumbai BJP chief in 2008, Munde quit all party posts to express his anger.
