How Munde missed a huge opportunity

Gopinath Munde's laidback attitude and ambition for the Maharashtra chief minister's post has got him stuck on the periphery. His equations within the party and hierarchy -- mainly access to Modi -- needs to improve, feels N Suresh.

After winning Beed in Marathwada for the second time, one would have expected the Bharatiya Janata Party's Gopinath Munde to be centre-stage.

He was, after all, the planner and manager for the Maha-Yuti alliance of the Shiv Sena-BJP-Republican Party of India-Athavale in the state. This was an opportunity for Munde, a Vanjara, who spent over most of his career in the shadow of his Brahmin brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan.

Nitin Gadkari, a strong rival of Munde, tried to surpass him and get the support of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. It made the BJP look stupid, which gave Munde the edge. After winning Beed by a margin of 126,313 votes against his Nationalist Congress Party rival Suresh Dhas, Munde should have been the number one BJP leader in Maharashtra.

Gadkari too contested and won from Nagpur. But he did not stay back in the state after the election. Munde was visibly absent from the stage. He began sending feelers and speaking off-the-record that he was more interested in state politics, which was a short-sighted approach.

Moreover, it was like taking voters for granted. He was elected to get Narendra Modi as prime minister and fulfill the goal of representing Beed at the Centre.

Munde has always dreamt of becoming Maharashtra chief minister. He has had a tumultuous relationship with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and also interfered a bit too much in the party's running at the state level, so he was sent to Delhi.

Munde got a huge ego-boosting post of being a leader of the party in Parliament. One would have expected Munde to network, hobnob with important leaders of other parties, develop a lobby within Delhi. But somehow he is still a misfit.

On the other hand, Gadkari on the very next day after the first phase of the election, which included Nagpur, went to join Modi at his rallies. From the day of the results, Gadkari was seen all over the television channels, speaking with RSS leaders and speaking to Modi. Munde was stuck in Beed, recuperating!

Munde could also have exploited the anger in the BJP at the resurgence of the Shiv Sena. BJP leaders feel the only reason that the Sena revived is solely due to Modi, but the party has now become a big headache for the BJP. A senior RSS leader said Munde lost the chance of telling Modi and the RSS how Gadkari's miscalculated moves will now cause trouble ahead for the BJP.

Sadly, Munde's laidback attitude or ambition for the chief minister's post has got him stuck on the periphery. His equations within the party and hierarchy -- mainly access to Modi -- needs to improve.