Pankaja Munde drops BJP from Twitter bio, says she will decide her course on 12 December

BJP leader Pankaja Munde has stirred speculation by removing the party’s name from her Twitter bio and posting about her future course. The move came days after Uddhav Thackeray’s government assumed office in Maharashtra. She is one of several BJP figures who have signalled unhappiness with the party.

An ambiguous message

In a Facebook post in Marathi on Sunday, Munde said the changed political situation in the state meant she had to think about the way forward, and that she needed 8-10 days to reflect. She invited supporters to Gopinathgad, the memorial to her late father Gopinath Munde in Beed, on 12 December, his birth anniversary, saying she would share her thoughts then. On Tuesday, however, she posted an image of a lotus, the BJP’s symbol, with a tribute to India’s first President, Rajendra Prasad. She has also said: “I am not leaving the party. Defection is not in my blood.”

In the 21 October Assembly election, Munde was defeated in Parli, in Beed district, by Dhananjay Munde of the NCP, her estranged cousin.

Other signs of discord

Her post followed criticism by Eknath Khadse and Babanrao Pachpute, both senior BJP leaders, of the way the party handled events in Maharashtra. Khadse was quoted as saying he was weighing a move to the Shiv Sena.

In another controversy, Anant Kumar Hegde alleged that Devendra Fadnavis had been sworn in for 80 hours to prevent the misuse of Rs 40,000 crore in central funds, and claimed Fadnavis moved the money within 15 hours and returned all of it to the Centre. Fadnavis denied this, saying the only decision taken was a grant of Rs 5,380 crore for farmers.

The Shiv Sena seized on Hegde’s remarks. Sena MP Sanjay Raut called Fadnavis and the BJP “criminals” of the people of Maharashtra, and Lok Sabha MP Vinayak Raut raised the matter in Parliament.

See also: BJP

Originally published on 4 December 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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