“A day before he passed away, I received his graduation certificate that was issued by the University of Pune. However, before I could hand it over to him, he has left us,” said Anil Shirole, BJP leader and newly elected Member of Parliament from Pune. A poignant Shirole was speaking at a condolence meeting held at the BJP’s party office in the city yesterday to mourn the loss of BJP leader Gopinathrao Pandurang Munde.

Colossal loss: City BJP office bearers, including MP Anil Shirole, paid rich tributes to their leader and Union Minister Gopinath Munde at a condolence meet at the BJP city office yesterday. Pic/Mohan Patil

The Union Minister for Rural Development died in a road accident in Delhi yesterday. He was 64. Munde was on his way to the airport to reach his hometown Beed to attend a victory rally, when tragedy struck. He had recently contested the Lok Sabha elections from Beed and defeated his nearest rival from the NCP, securing 6,35,995 votes. He was sworn in as a Union minister on May 26.