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New Delhi: The crisis facing the Bharatiya Janata Party blew over on Tuesday with party general secretary Gopinath Munde withdrawing his resignation.
Munde had announced his decision to quit all posts in the party on Sunday, sending a shockwave across the principal opposition party ahead of provincial polls in five states later this year.
He announced the withdrawal of his resignation after meetings with Leader of Opposition Lal Krishna Advani and party chief Rajnath Singh. "I am fully satisfied with the talks I had with Mr Advani and Mr Singh," Munde, a former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, announced after meeting Singh at his Ashoka Road residence, adding that at no point in time did he think of joining any other party.
Not disclosed
Although details of his talks with the two senior leaders of the party were not disclosed, it is apparent the party bent over backwards to keep him in the fold by accepting most of his demands, including the removal of the Mumbai unit chief Madhu Chavan, nominee of the Maharashtra state unit president Nitin Gadkari.
After defying a summons of the party on Monday, Munde finally changed his mind following his meeting with the Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in Mumbai on Monday. He drove down to Advani's Prithviraj Road bungalow straight from the airport and was accompanied by his niece Poonam Mahajan. He spent nearly two hours with Advani. Later Advani discussed the matter with Singh inside his chamber at Parliament House before Munde visited Singh.
Munde's decision to quit party posts and his hobnobbing with the rival Nationalist Congress Party leader Chaggan Bhujwal had jolted the party. Besides the fact that he is the most recognised backward class face of the party in Maharashtra, Munde is also general secretary in-charge for Rajasthan, which is slated to go to polls in November-December this year. Maharashtra itself goes to the polls in April-May next year.
While Munde clarified that he had no problem working with Gadkari, party sources insist that Gadkari's attempts to marginalise him in Maharashtra forced Munde to flex his muscles.
"Munde all along aspired to play the role of his late brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan in the party hierarchy. Although he replaced Mahajan as the national general secretary of the BJP, he did not get the same importance," sources said.
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