A day after Eknath Khadse and Pankaja Munde vented ire about the party leadership in Maharashtra, State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said on Friday that “anti-party activities” would not be tolerated.
Mr. Patil was addressing BJP workers at Solapur in south Maharashtra.
On Thursday, at a rally to mark late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde’s birth anniversary in Parli, Pankaja Munde and Mr. Khadse targeted former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Mr. Fadnavis is facing the heat after the BJP failed to form government in the State as its alliance with the Shiv Sena fell apart.
“Henceforth, anti-party activities will not be tolerated. No one will be spared. The situation is being monitored from the central level to the local level. You have seen that nobody was spared during the Assembly elections,” Mr. Patil said.
Mr. Patil himself was present at the event in Parli, organised by Pankaja, Gopinath Munde’s daughter.
Speaking in Solapur, he said several people had asked him not to attend the Parli rally, saying “eggs would be hurled” at him.
“The picture is painful to some extent, but had I not gone there, the situation would have been even tenser. The communication eased many things,” he added.
Some local BJP leaders were betraying the trust people reposed in the party in the municipal corporation and squabbling among themselves, Mr. Patil said, without naming anyone.
“I understand there are differences...Pankaja Taai said in Parli that people got justice when they revolted. She gave a big list....Shivaji Maharaj revolted. But against whom? the Mughals. She gave another example, of Veer Savarkar. But he revolted against whom? The Britishers,” Mr. Patil said.
“You do not revolt against your own people, you don’t fight with your own people...there can be heated discussions ....but that too within the confines of four walls,” he added.
While Ms. Munde lost the Assembly election from Parli, Mr. Khadse, a former Minister, was denied the ticket. His daughter was offered ticket instead, but she too lost.
Both Ms. Munde and Mr. Khadse have taken veiled swipes at Mr. Fadnavis, blaming “conspiracies” for their respective electoral setbacks.
