After Maharashtra failure, BJP re-discovers Pankaja Munde, who might become minister.
The party recognises the need to present a strong OBC leader from Marathwada ahead of the Assembly elections; Pankaja is poised to receive MLC nomination.
Following the Lok Sabha election debacle, the BJP plans to offer Pankaja Munde what she has long desired: a foothold in state politics. Having failed to win a single seat in the Marathwada area, the party intends to elevate the OBC leader to the House through the Legislative Council, followed by a cabinet position, sources added.Pankaja, the oldest of three daughters of the late Gopinath Munde, the BJP's most famous OBC face in Maharashtra at the time, has never concealed her discontent with her "sidelining" in the state unit since Devendra Fadnavis' ascension to power. Having granted her a place in the party's national organisation, the BJP this time awarded Pankaja a Lok Sabha ticket only after realizing that the ground under it was eroding, both as a result of the Maratha quota protests and the counter-OBC agitation.
MUMBAI: BJP politician Pankaja Munde, who caused a stir by deleting her party's name from her Twitter profile, paid respect to India's first president Rajendra Prasad on his birth day on Tuesday, uploading a picture of the 'lotus' (BJP emblem) beside it.
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