After paying rich tributes to senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who passed away in a road accident on Tuesday last, for his contribution to the development of the State, the Maharashtra Assembly on Friday adopted a ‘motion of gratitude’ in memory of the late Union Rural Development Minister, moved by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Moving a ‘motion of gratitude’ in memory of Munde, the Chief Minister said that the late BJP leader was enthusiasm personified and regretted that the latter’s life was cut short when his political career was peaking.Describing Munde as the face of BJP in Maharashtra, Chavan said, “Munde never took elections lightly. He was always busy planning and strategising his next political moves. He was extremely enthusiastic about the forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra.”
Alluding to Munde’s unhidden chief ministerial ambitions, Chavan said, “What were his wishes and whether they would have been accepted will never be known now.”
On late Munde's keenness to contribute to the development of the state in some way or the other, Chavan recalled: "In our last conversation over telephone, Munde was very enthusiastic about his rural development portfolio and told me the details of the ministry's budget and how he wanted to use his position for the development of rural Maharashtra".
Chavan said that Munde had friends not just in BJP, but in all political parties. “Politics never came in the way of Munde nurturing friendships with politicians of different hues,” he said.like Chavan, leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Eknath Khadse also recalled that Munde was very enthusiastic about the forthcoming Assembly elections in the State.
“He ( Munde) met all of us — State BJP leaders — on June 1 to discuss the preparations for the Assembly polls. As he was delegating responsibilities among us present at the meeting, I told him that we could meet once again after a fortnight after the ongoing monsoon session of the State legislature. He asked me: who has so much of time on handIJ” Khadse said, adding that Munde’s words proved ironically to be prophetic.