Mumbai: Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde on Thursday received a major setback, as his elder brother Pandit Anna Munde quit the principal opposition party and joined the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in a development that created ripples in the Maharashtra political circles.
Announcing his entry to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP in the presence of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his son Dhananjay, Pandit Anna vowed to defeat Gopinath Munde-led BJP in the forthcoming Beed Zilla Parishad (district council) poll.
"If the party gives me a chance to contest, I will defeat Gopinath Munde in the poll. If I am defeated in the poll, then I will retire from active politics," Sr Munde said, while addressing a huge rally organized by the NCP in Mundes' home town of Parli in Beed district of Marathwada region.
Pandit Anna said that his younger brother had done him injustice, despite having taken care of Gopinath since he was 20. "In 1969, my father died. I ignored my own education to help Gopinath Munde become a big man," Pandit Anna said.
Welcoming Pandit Anna into his party, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said that if Munde's elder brother had chosen to join the NCP, it was because that the latter was fed up with his younger brother and the selfish matter in which Gopinath conducted himself. "When Gopinath was in Mumbai, Pandit Anna made him a legislator, but the younger brother forgot him," he said.
A Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Dhananjay --- who rebelled against Munde and his party leadership in the recent civic elections in Parli town and has been itching to be thrown out of the party - maintained that he continued to be in the BJP. He, however, hastened to add that he would support the NCP in the forthcoming Zilla Parishad poll in Beed district.
On his part, Gopinath Munde sought to underplay the political blow that his elder brother Pandit Anna and nephew Dhananjay dwelt him, by saying:"There are bound to be ups and downs in life. But I have faith in my people".
Gopinath, who was away in Latur to meet his another hospitalized brother Venkatrao, said: "I have come to Latur on account of my brother's health. I don't want to make any political comment," Munde said.
Gopinath's younger brother, Venkatrao, was on Wednesday admitted to the Kavthale hospital in Latur after he suffered a heart attack.
State BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar said that his party would approach the chairman of the State Legislative Council to seek action against party MLC Dhananjay for his anti-party activities.
