Political circles are keenly watching whether BJP’s Pankaja Munde will be able to wrest significance from disgraced cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde’s hands in Beed in the upcoming local body polls
Dhananjay Munde (left) had, in March this year, resigned as state minister in a fallout of the Massajog sarpanch murder in Beed; (right) his cousin Pankaja Munde
The political tide in Marathwada, particularly in Beed, could turn in Pankaja Munde’s favour, provided the BJP leader is willing to regain lost political ground. Whether Pankaja grabs the opportunity with both hands or lets it slip remains to be seen in the coming days.
Especially with local body elections scheduled sometime in the next few months and with the state having over half of its population belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC), veteran leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal, the Munde cousins (Pankaja and Dhananjay) and other politicians from the community who wield significant clout among voters, will be in the spotlight.
The chances of Dhananjay returning as ‘mantri’ at least in this government seem bleak, with Bhujbal replacing the former. This year in March, in a fallout of the Massajog sarpanch murder in Beed, Dhananjay resigned from the ministerial post. However, while doing so, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader claimed to have stepped down on moral grounds.
After his resignation, Dhananjay has been lying low and avoiding public appearances. With him losing the ‘lal batti’ and post of Beed’s guardian minister, his clout has not only weakened, but created a leadership vacuum in the strong Vanjari community in the district and Marathwada
region as well.
Now with cousin Dhananjay sidelined, there seems to be no better time and opportunity for Pankaja to make a comeback — if not for ‘badla’, certainly to regain her lost political clout and dominance in the region, especially with elections around the corner.
After BJP’s Gopinath Munde passed, his daughter Pankaja was seen as his heir. In fact, she bore a resemblance not just in name but in style, too, gradually developing a strong bond with OBC voters, especially those from the Vanjari community. She quickly carved out space as a prominent OBC and BJP leader.
But Pankaja’s rising graph started a downward trend thanks to Dhananjay. Like many other political dynasties in India, the Munde family, too, was divided over inheritance, not of property, but of power. The family feud hit such a peak that Dhananjay, once the blue-eyed boy of NCP leader Ajit Pawar, not only challenged Pankaja’s legacy in the region but significantly eroded it and started emerging as an OBC leader, especially for the Vanjari community. As her cousin’s career graph rose, Pankaja’s magic faded, and the situation reached such a head that she was unable to retain even her seat in the 2024 Assembly polls.
With Bhujbal, the voice of the OBC, not finding a space in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ cabinet, Dhananjay was made minister and was seenas an emerging leader of the community. In fact, for Dhananjay, the sky was the limit. Also, despite Bhujbal having good clout among OBCs, he does not command the same emotional connect in Marathwada’s Vanjari-dominated pockets as the Munde name evokes.
Dhananjay who was groomed under his uncle, the late Gopinath Munde, joined the NCP (undivided) in 2012. Munde Sr had, in 2009, nominated Pankaja to contest from the Parli Assembly constituency. So Munde’s nephew aligned with the Sharad Pawar-led party, and because of his oratorical skills and grass-roots connections, Dhanajay witnessed a meteoric rise — such that he defeated Pankaja in the 2019 Assembly polls in his uncle’s bastion, Parli. However, a murder in Beed district seems to have dimmed the rising star’s brilliance, even though he claims to have no direct connection to the case.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court directed the Maharashtra government to conduct the long-pending civic polls as soon as possible. This means that all 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, along with 248 nagar parishads, 42 nagar panchayats, 332 zilla parishads and 336 panchayat samitis, will go to the polls at least by the year-end. The OBCs could sway the poll results owing to their large electorate numbers.
One should not forget that last year the Mahayuti’s Lok Sabha performance was ‘poor’, probably due to the Maratha and OBC reservation conflict and the narrative of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT), during campaigning that the BJP was out to change the Constitution if it came to power.
But, the situation took a 180-degree turn almost six months later, during the Assembly election, largely because the Mahayuti had managed to secure a significant vote share from the OBC community, particularly in regions like Marathwada and Vidarbha.
In politics, like in chess, one move can change the entire game. Earlier, it was Dhananjay who almost bulldozed Pankaja, but with recent developments, it is the latter who now has to decide whether to maintain cordial relations with the former or focus on her political career and go all in aggressively immediately.
Pankaja can make use of the current political opportunity and fill the void of the OBC leader in the region. If she successfully does so, in no time will the political pendulum in Marathwada — particularly in her home turf Beed, where her father Gopinath Munde’s legacy still holds emotional and electoral significance — swing and help the BJP leader reclaim lost ground. But if she fails to do so, it would be like missing a free hit on the political playground on her home turf, a chance she might never get again.
Or will Dhananjay be able to put the ignominy behind him and return to his original form during the polls, leaving no room for Pankaja to fill the vacuum created by his recent absence?
Sanjeev Shivadekar is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @SanjeevScribe
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper
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