Talks with Congress fail,Munde stays put

After his talks with Congress failed,Munde got back in touch with BJP.

His negotiations with the Congress having hit a dead end over his demand for a Cabinet portfolio at the Centre,Gopinath Munde made peace with his party leadership today,asserting that he was,and would be,with the BJP.

Till late Tuesday night,Munde had been in touch with Congress leaders. Sources said the talks broke down after the Congress insisted that he resign his Beed Lok Sabha seat,won on a BJP ticket,and contest the by-election as the Congress candidate.

Munde,it is learnt,was not agreeable; he was instead eyeing the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. Chavan,who was keen to bring the Maharashtra BJP leader into the Congress,arrived in Delhi this evening to discuss the issue with Ahmed Patel,political secretary to Sonia Gandhi.

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BJP sources said Munde was also under pressure from his daughter Pankaja Palve,the BJP MLA from Parli,and nephew Dhananjay Munde,a BJP MLC,who were not in favour of his quitting the party. Sources said that Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray statement today that Mundes going over to the Congress would not affect the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra too was a signal to him.

After his talks with Congress failed,Munde got back in touch with BJP. The party leadership conveyed to him that he would have to clear the confusion over his reported negotiations with the Congress and plans to quit the BJP.

In the afternoon,after a meeting with senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj,Munde said,I am in the BJP and will remain in the BJP. The news that I am quitting is wrong. He denied he was in talks with the Congress. Asked who was behind the rumours of his switching,Munde told reporters,You know better.

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