Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, who is on a tour of rain-hit Marathwada region, will be skipping Beed district during his visit, said sources on Monday.
The BJP leader, who began his tour last week, said that after assessing the situation in Latur, he would be proceeding to Osmanabad to take stock of the situation there and interact with flood-hit farmers.
The conspicuous omission of Beed in the itinerary has sparked speculation in some quarters that the real reason is his strained relationship with BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde, whose stronghold is Beed.
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However, quashing such speculation, Mr. Fadnavis’ aides said Beed, Aurangabad and Jalna had never been part of the BJP LoP’s itinerary to begin with.
All eight districts in the region, including Beed, have been severely hit by heavy showers last week, with lakhs of hectares of cropland destroyed.
Ms. Munde had tweeted that she was unwell the moment Mr. Fadnavis had announced his four-day tour of Marathwada.
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“Unwell..tonsillitis n blisters in my throat advised strict voice rest for 2 to 4 days ... can’t take calls or meet in person..,” Ms. Munde had tweeted on October 1.
The coincidence caused many observers to suspect that Ms. Munde did not wish to be seen together with Mr. Fadnavis.
In December 2019, Ms. Munde staged a massive show of strength on the occasion of the birth anniversary of her father Gopinath Munde, an architect of the BJP in Maharashtra.
At the time, Ms. Munde, along with other OBC leaders like Eknath Khadse (who is now in the NCP) and former Minister Prakash Mehta, had squarely blamed Mr. Fadnavis, then the CM, for wrecking their political careers by allegedly engineering their defeats in the 2019 Assembly poll or denying them tickets.
Ms. Munde had staged a ‘Swabhiman’ rally at Gopinathgadh in Beed’s Parli district where she, along with Mr. Khadse, had trained their guns on the BJP’s State leadership, while launching thinly veiled attacks on Mr. Fadnavis.
Ms. Munde was defeated in the 2019 polls by her estranged cousin, Dhananjay Munde of the NCP from the family stronghold in Parli.
The conclusion of the polls was followed by a rift within the State BJP leadership, with the top brass fearing a possible intra-party revolt by the OBC leaders, notably Mr. Khadse and Ms. Munde.