MUMBAI, 23 April 2008 — Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Gopinath Munde yesterday withdrew his resignation after meetings with senior party leaders in Delhi.
Munde, who refused to go to Delhi when summoned by the party high command on Monday, changed his mind after a late night meeting with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and flew to Delhi in the morning.
A first round of meeting with senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani in the morning proved unsuccessful. But Munde emerged beaming from a second round, telling waiting reporters that the crisis had been resolved. He then met BJP President Rajnath Singh and announced that he had withdrawn his resignation and would continue to work for the party.
Fearing a split in the party if Munde were to leave, the BJP agreed to his demands. A senior BJP leader said the party considered Munde the most important leader in Maharashtra and confirmed that he would lead the party in the next legislative assembly elections in the state. The party agreed to Munde’s demand to remove the newly appointed BJP unit chief in Mumbai, Madhu Chavan, whose appointment led to Munde’s resignation.
Munde’s late-night meeting with Thackeray at his residence triggered rumors he would join Shiv Sena. After emerging from Thackeray’s house after an hour’s meeting, Munde told journalists he had gone to the Sena chief to vent his grievances. “What conspired between us I would not divulge,” Munde said.
Later he went to the residence of Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader N.D. Patil and held talks with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra P.W.D. Minister Chaggan Bhujbal. This set another round of rumors afloat that Munde and Bhujbal would forge a political alliance.
In an article in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, yesterday, Thackeray referred to his meeting with Munde the night before and said that gross injustice was done to him and that Munde was suffocating in the party.
