Maharashtra: Pankaja Munde to bring out book of GRs during her tenure as minister

Pankaja, who served as the minister of rural development, women and child welfare when BJP's Devendra Fadnavis was the chief minister between 2014 and 2019, was speaking to reporters a day prior to the ninth death anniversary of her father

BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde said on Friday she would compile the government resolutions (GRs) issued during her tenure as a state minister into a book and recalled that many schemes launched by her were inspired by her late father Gopinath Munde.

Pankaja, who served as the minister of rural development, women and child welfare when BJP's Devendra Fadnavis was the chief minister between 2014 and 2019, was speaking to reporters a day prior to the ninth death anniversary of her father.

Gopinath Munde, a former deputy leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha, was appointed as the Rural Development Minister by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he assumed office in 2014. He died in a road accident on June 3 of that year.

After inaugurating a camp for the differently abled in Beed, Pankaja said, There are many memories of Gopinath Munde. Each of his memory encouraged me and a (public welfare) scheme came out of it. A book of the GRs that were passed during my tenure will be prepared.

Talking about her speeches, she said, I speak my mind. I used to do it when Gopinath Munde was alive, I do it even in his absence.

When asked that the words in her speeches are often taken otherwise, Pankaja said, It has become a routine affair. There are very few speakers that people come to listen to. I feel proud that people come to listen to me.

She said people usually draw a conclusion from her utterances depending on what is happening around her at the time and one should not read too much into it.

But I don't stop, she said.

Over the past few years, there have been speculations that she has been sidelined by the state BJP. After the first expansion of the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis cabinet in August 2022, she had said she might not have been qualified enough to get a berth.

In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, she lost to her estranged cousin and Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde on her home turf Parli.

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