Business Standard

Gopinath Munde

BJP is expected to go to state Assembly elections under Munde's leadership

Gopinath Munde

BS Reporter
Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation

Date & year of birth:
December 12, 1949
Constituency: Beed, Maharashtra
Whether represented the constituency before: No
Whether held ministerial charge earlier: No

From an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad to union minister, Gopinath Munde has come a long way. Munde was first elected to the Maharashtra Assembly from Renapur constituency in Beed in 1980 but lost in the 1985 elections. He was re-elected from the constituency in 1990. 

He entered the Lok Sabha in 2009 and was appointed as BJP's deputy leader in the lower House.  Munde belongs to backward Vanjari community. The BJP is expected to go to state Assembly elections under Munde's leadership. Munde, along with Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray, is recognised as the game changer for the saffron alliance to dislodge the Congress rule and form the first saffron alliance government in 1995.

He was Deputy Chief Minister during the Sena-BJP rule during 1995-99 and held ministries of home, power, irrigation. Sidelined by the party and the rising rift with Nitin Gadkari, Munde had staged rebellion twice to assert his position but he was calmed down by L K Advani and others. Though Munde and Pawar are rivals, they have one thing in common — their date of birth is December 12. RSS stalwart late Vasantrao Bhagwat and late Pramod Mahajan had suggested Munde's name to lead the Maharashtra unit in 1980. However, Munde succeeded in transforming BJP's image as a party of upper castes.
 

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First Published: May 25 2014 | 10:42 AM IST

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