Maha Oppn leader meets Munde ahead of June 18 meet

Mumbai, Jun 16: Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Eknath Khadse today (Jue 16) met his senior party colleague Gopinath Munde, who has been sulking after his supporter was denied a party post in Pune.

Khadse, who met senior BJP leaders in Delhi, today went to Munde's residence in Worli area and met the disgruntled leader.

Earlier, after his return from Delhi, Khadse said all issues concerning Munde will be discussed at a meeting with senior party leaders on June 18.

The meeting will be attended by party chief Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders like L K Advani, Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj. Munde has also been invited for the meeting, Khadse said.

Yesterday, Munde met Uddhav Thackery in Mumbai. Munde wanted his supporter Yogesh Gogawale as Pune unit President and senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu had visited Pune to gauge views of partymen and submitted his report to the state unit president, who announced Gadkari loyalist Vikas Mathkari's name for the post.

Irked Munde supporters took up the matter with senior BJP leader L K Advani.

Whether his rivals within BJP like it or not, the fact remains that Munde is the biggest mass leader for the party in Maharashtra.

In 2008, Gadkari supporter Madhu Chavan's appointment as chief of the Mumbai party unit, prompted Munde to quit all party posts. After an overwhelming number of BJP legislators extended their support to Munde, the party leadership replaced Chavan with Munde supporter Gopal Shetty.

This time, however, Munde has kept mum and it is this silence that is unnerving partymen.

PTI