Not part of Maharashtra BJP core team but won't quit party: Pankaja Munde

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Senior BJP Maharashtra leader and former minister Pankaja Munde on December 12 said that she was no longer the member of party's core team, but added that she would continue to be a part of the organisation amid speculation that she was planning to quit the party.

Addressing a rally today in Beed district on the occasion of the birth anniversary of her late father Gopinath Munde, Pankaja said the BJP was free to decide on her continuance in the party.

Pankaja has been organising this annual event for last five years but this year the rally had generated a lot of curiosity in the political circles, amid speculation that she was leaving the BJP after her shock defeat in the October 21 Assembly poll.

The speculation arose ever since Pankaja wrote a controversial post on Facebook stating that in the changed political scenario there was the need for her to see how she could chalk her future path ahead and serve her people.

On Tuesday, she skipped the state BJP core committee meeting in Mumbai. On Thursday, she announced that she was no longer a member of the core team.

In her speech, Pankaja made a veiled reference to insinuations that she lost the Parli seat to her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde because some BJP leaders (read Devendra Fadnavis) didn't want her to win the seat.

Pankaja said she will be holding a statewide 'Mashal Rally' across Maharashtra starting from January.

Speaking at the rally at Gopinath Gad she said, "I am starting a statewide Mashal Rally in Maharashtra from January next year. I will start my work through the Gopinath Munde Pratishthan from Mumbai office on January 26."

"I will also hold a token fast on January 27 at Aurangabad to attract attention of the government to issues of Marathwada region," she said.