Pankaja Munde isn’t quitting, says BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denied reports about its leader Pankaja Gopinath Munde joining the Shiv Sena.

Pankaja Gopinath Munde is a senior BJP leader and former Cabinet Minister, she is the daughter of veteran BJP leader Gopinath Munde.

The talks about Pankaja Munde eaving her party started when she posted an emotional message of the social networking site Facebook on Sunday. In her post she asked the party cadre to be present at father Gopinath Munde’s Samadhi on 12 December, which will be the 70th birth anniversary of the leader.

“I want some time off things to clear my thoughts. After the election defeat I came forward and accepted the defeat. But more than me the cadre had felt demoralised and wanted to meet,” she wrote in the post.

Pankaja’s  Twitter bio was also seen edited and BJP reference was taken off it completely.

State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said, “There is no truth in these reports and rumours; past few days we are seeing a lot of rumours being spread since this government of the Congress, Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party has come to power with an agenda of keeping the BJP out of power.”

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has been claiming that many leaders of BJP were keen on joining his party.

In the recent Maharashtra assembly elections, Pankaja Munde had lost to her cousin and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) rival Dhananjay Munde from Parli seat in Beed district.

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