The OBC face of BJP in Maharashtra and former Deputy Chief Minister, Gopinath Munde, who had joined the Union Cabinet for the first time a week back, was all set to spearhead the party's campaign in the upcoming Assembly polls in the State to wrest power from the Congress-NCP combine.
The 64-year-old Rural Development Minister, who died on Tuesday following a road accident here, was a five-time MlA and had always harboured the ambition of becoming first BJP Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
A known detractor of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Munde was credited with neutralising the Maratha politician's influence to such an extent that the Sena-BJP combine came to power in the 1995 assembly polls and he became the Deputy Chief Minister.
Brother-in-law of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, Munde hails from a poor family in the backward Marathwada region and was brought into politics by the late BJP leader Vasantrao Bhagwat, who also groomed several others including Pramod Mahajan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the BJP leadership had handpicked Munde to lead the party's campaign in the State where Assembly polls are due in four months.