BJP President Amit Shah today lauded contribution of late Gopinath Munde in building the party in Maharashtra, where the saffron outfit is heading its first Government, and also praised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for providing a "clean" administration.
"The glory days of BJP in Maharashtra today are due to Mundeji, who ensured the party's spread among the poor and downtrodden," he said here in Beed district of Central Maharashtra.
"I have come here to pay my respects to Mundeji on behalf of crores of BJP workers."
Shah was speaking after inauguration of 'Gopinath Gad', the late BJP leader's memorial, on the occasion of his birth anniversary today.
Munde, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra who also served as a Union Minister, contributed to the organisational structure of the party in every region and village, Shah said.
The BJP chief also praised Fadnavis, who completed one year in office on October 31 as head of the first party-led Government, saying he was doing commendable work.
"I am sure under his leadership Maharashtra will regain the numero uno spot (in economic sphere). So clean has been the Government under his leadership that the Opposition hasn't been able to level allegation of a single rupee worth of corruption."
Shah used the occasion to highlight pro-farmers initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi Government.
"The Government has launched soil health card scheme for farmers. By 2019, all farmers will get these cards. A sum of Rs 75,000 crore has been provided per year for irrigation network."
Talking about Munde's family, Shah said his daughters Pankaja, a Minister in Maharashtra, and Preetam, the Lok Sabha MP from Beed, have carried forward the late leader's legacy.
Munde's memorial, which has a 20-feet tall statue of the late leader, has been developed on 18 acres of land here in his home district.
Located in the premises of Vaidyanath Cooperative Sugar Mill, it comprises Munde's 'samadhi' called Lotus Temple.
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Speaking on the occasion, Fadnavis said his Government
has launched an accident insurance scheme named after Munde, who died in a car crash in Delhi in June last year.
"Munde must be happy up there, knowing that his daughters are carrying forward his legacy," Fadnavis said.
A national rural development institute is also being set up in the late leader's memory, Fadnavis said.
The senior BJP leader was holding the portfolio of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the Narendra Modi Cabinet when he died.
Munde's daughter Pankaja said her father rose from being a sugarcane cutter's son to become founder of a sugar factory and then Deputy Chief Minister of the State (in Shiv Sena-led Government in 1995-99).
When underworld elements held sway (over Mumbai in 1990s), it was Munde who boosted morale of police force as the then Home Minister, she said.
Mahant Namdev Shastri of Bhagwan Gad, a pilgrimage site for members of Vanjari community, to which Munde belonged, said henceforth politics of the community will be carried out from 'Gopinath Gad'.
