Munde skips rally held to mark RPI\'s entry into alliance

Pune, May 30, 2011



The appointment of corporator Vikas Mathkari as the new city president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sparked off protest from the camp of senior party leader Gopinath Munde.



Mr. Munde skipped the BJP-RPI-Sena rally on Saturday. Party MLC Vinod Tawade attended in his place. The rally was held to promote the entry of the Republican Party of India (RPI) into the saffron alliance.



Tension between camps



The move laid bare, yet again, the factions in the party.



The BJP\'s politics in the city is ridden with tensions between two camps — one led by Nitin Gadkari and the other by Gopinath Munde. Mr. Munde was upset by the decision to appoint as party chief Mr. Mathkari, a Gadkari loyalist, over his own associate Yogesh Gogawale.



Mr. Munde\'s followers stated that they were not consulted before the new appointment. "There was a lack of transparency in the election process," Mr. Gogawale told reporters here.



Mr. Gogawale demanded that the report which senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu had submitted in February be made available to the rest of the party.



"No division in party"



Meanwhile, Mr. Mathkari and other members of the Gadkari camp chose to downplay the controversy. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Mathkari said: "There is no division in the party. Mr. Munde has given me his blessings."


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