A day after the Maharashtra Government denied her permission to address a Dussehra rally at Bhagwangad in Ahmednagar district citing law and order as a reason, State Minister Pankaja Munde on Tuesday chose to speak at rally organised by her supporters at the foothills of the famous hill shrine, but steered clear of any controversy.
Pankaja, who had joined issue with the chief priest of Bhagwangad hill shrine Namdev Shastri Maharaj ahead of Dussehra, refrained from criticising Namdeo Shastri. “Unfortunately Mahant Shastri objected to my addressing a Dussehra rally at Bhagwangad. But, I am confident that Mahant Shastri will treat me as a daughter and invite me to the rally next year,” she said at her rally.
On Saturday when Namdev Shastri wrote to Ahmednagar district collector urging him not to permit the lady minister to address a Dussehra rally at the shrine this year, Pankaja landed in an unseemly controversy over an audio clip in which she is “threatening” the shrine’s head priest and his supporters for opposing her move to speak at the Dussehra rally.
The stand-off between Pankaja had taken a serious turn that Ahmednagar District Collector Anil Kawade denied permission to the woman minister to address a “political” rally atop the Bhagwangd hill shrine, where her late father and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde used to address public rallies on Dussehra day every year.
Hours after she was denied permission by the district administration to address a rally at the hill strine, Pankaja had made it clear that though she would offer prayers at the shrine, she would not speak against Namdeo Shastri.