BJP offers sop to irate Munde

Central leadership replaces organising secretary Raghunath Kulkarni with Gopinath aide Ravindra Bhusari

After lengthy negotiations, it appears that the BJP has accepted one of senior leader Gopinath Munde's demands, removing the state's organising secretary Raghunath Kulkarni and supplanting him with Ravindra Bhusari, a senior RSS pracharak from Nagpur.



Kulkarni had been occupying the influential post for the last six years, contrary to the existing norms that allow an individual to occupy the post for a maximum of three years. Extension for a second term is given only in the rarest of cases.

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This is an extremely significant post, holding the authority to appoint key persons in the party organisation, in state level as well as district level.

According to a close Munde supporter, the leader was of the opinion that Kulkarni was opposed to Munde's policies, and had been uncooperative, paying no heed to his suggestions.

Meanwhile, the MP from Beed has emerged from hibernation, and ventured on a tour of the state. Munde was at Shani Shingnapur, in the district of Ahmadnagar, on Saturday, where he performed abhishek.
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In the last few days, the leader has toured Jalna, Latur, his home district Beed, and Sangli where he addressed the public at several functions.
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In one of these functions, he lashed out against Home Minister R R Patil, and demanded his resignation at being unable to do anything about the rising crime ratio in the state.