The appointment of Vikas Mathkari as the president of the city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sparked a rebellion among the followers of party leader Gopinath Munde.
The appointment of Vikas Mathkari as the president of the city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sparked a rebellion among the followers of party leader Gopinath Munde.
Munde, who was in Pune on Saturday, skipped an important party rally in the city to reportedly express his displeasure over Mathkari's appointment.
The Munde faction was insisting on appointment of Yogesh Gogawale as the city president. Party's former president Venkaiah Naidu had visited the city in January to assess opinions of local leaders about choosing the city president. But ultimately, Mathkari was appointed as the city unit chief on Friday, the birthday of national president Nitin Gadkari.
Incidentally, Munde was in the city on Friday to attend a public event. He was supposed to address a joint rally of the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the Republican Party of India (RPI-Athawale) organised on Saturday to express resolve of the newly formed alliance of the saffron front with the RPI, which represents interests of dalits.
State general secretary of BJP, Vinod Tawade, attended the rally along with leaders of Shiv Sena and RPI. When Tawade was asked about Munde's absence he told mediapersons that Munde has taken initiative for the new alliance along with Gadkari, so it was not likely that he would skip the rally over appointment of city president.
Munde's absence is in no way related to the appointment. Even if he was unhappy he would not express it by abstaining from the rally, he said.
Mathkari, who attended the rally, told the media that he met Munde on Saturday morning and the latter blessed him.
Meanwhile, Gogawale said in a press conference that the very process of election of the city president was unfair. He said that he met Munde on the issue and the latter expressed shock about the process of selection of the city president. Gogawale said that a meeting of prominent local leaders would be called soon to express displeasure about the appointment. The issue would be taken up with the central leadership of the party.
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