Expressing confidence that Maharashtra would witness a change akin to the one witnessed at the Centre during the recent lok Sabha polls, BJP president Amit Shah said on Friday that with the common man as its focal point, the Narendra Modi-led Government was committed to taking the nation on a path of progress.
Interacting with devotees gathered at Sri Dev temple at Bhagwangad in Ahmednagar district of western Maharashtra on the occasion of Dussehra festival, Shah lamented that the Dussehra rally was being held at Bhagwangad for the first time in the absence of senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who passed away in a road accident in New Delhi on June 3.
Shah exhorted the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) across the State to stand by unitedly and support upcoming BJP leader Pankaja Palve-Munde to execute all the unfilled dreams of her late father. “I would like the Vanjari community (to which Mundes belong) and other OBC community members to stand solidly behind Pankaja Munde-Palve, who is carrying forward the rich political legacy of her late father. I am confident that Pankaja will emerge as a prominent BJP leader in the State in coming years,” the BJP president said.
Over the years, late Munde used to address customary Dussehra rallies at the pilgrimage centre of Bhawagangad on the occasion of Dussehra. At this year's function, Pankaja Munde-Palve replaced her late father at the rally.
Speaking on the occasion, Pankaja said:”My father and your lok neta (as late Munde used to be known as) may not be in our midst today, but I have taken up the responsibility of realising each and every dream that he nursed as a senior BJP leader. I shall overcome the tragedy in the form of my father's untimely demise that has befallen me ad my family, and pledge here to fulfill his dream of ousting the corrupt Congress-NCP Government in the State”.
Rashtriya Samaj Paksha chief Mahadev Jankar said that the BJP and its allies had done justice to the OBC community, which accounted for 52 per cent of total population in the country, by making Narendra Modi as the country's Prime Minister. He went onto appeal to the OBC community members in the state to stand by Pankajka in the same manner in which they supported her late father.
Apart from Pankaja and Shah, the Sri Mutt head Dr Namdeo Shastry, leader of the Opposition in the State legislative Assembly Eknath Khadse, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha chief Mahadev Jankar and Shiv Sangram party chief Vinayak Mete was among the prominent persons present at Friday's Dussehra function. Sri Dev Mutt head Namdeo Shastry said that the BJP, which has long been crusading for the Hindutva ideology, would provide an effective leadership to the country for years to come.