Munde’s supporters were clearly not impressed. “He has the support of 51 of 55 MLAs in the state, and almost all the party MPs from the state. Yet he has been given short shrift in the last two years. The names he suggested for the corporators’ elections were shot down. That he was taken into confidence for the Mumbai BJP chief’s election is not entirely true,” a Munde aide told The Indian Express. “He has no ill-will against the newly-elected Mumbai BJP chief, Madhu Chavan, but the central BJP must show that Munde’s views count,” added another aide.

While Munde decided against visiting Delhi today — aware of the political implications of his move, the BJP top brass, including L K Advani and Rajnath Singh, met this morning and called Munde and Gadkari for talks — he sent two of his confidants, Eknath Khadse and Pandurang Phundkar, for talks. Gadkari and senior leader Ram Naik were already there in Delhi by then.

Maintaining that he would continue to be a party worker, Munde said he had “taken a stance” and not “rebelled”. He said he decided not to go to Delhi because he wanted the discussions to take place in “an impartial and open environment”. “Besides, it is a meeting of leaders and I am just a party worker.”

Munde said his differences with the party lay mainly at the state level, hinting at his rivalry with the Gadkari camp. “I was removed as state president and a new chief (Gadkari) was brought in without my knowledge. Even (Pramod) Mahajan came to know about it from newspaper reports next day.” He claimed that Mahajan too was against Gadkari’s appointment and had conveyed his unhappiness to the central leadership.

... contd.