Pankaja Munde at a BJP press conference in Mumbai on Thursday. (Press Trust of India)
At the height of intense political rivalry and in spite of a bitter separation, the Shiv Sena has decided not to field its candidate against BJP's Pankaja Munde, daughter of Union Minister Gopinath Munde, who died earlier this year in a road accident.
Mr Munde had played a crucial role in forging the Mahayuti or grand alliance forged between six parties including the Shiv Sena during the Lok Sabha elections. After Mr Munde's untimely death, his other daughter Pritam is standing for Lok Sabha by-election from his seat in Beed. In a list of 286 candidates finalised on Saturday, the Sena has decided not to put up any candidate against her either.
"When Gopinath Munde ji passed away, I had promised Pankaja that whenever she needed me, I would always be there for her. I cherish relationships. And she is like family, like a sister. Shiv Sena will fight on all seats but we will not fight against Pankaja or Pritam," Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said. The BJP has welcomed the decision. "Not having any candidate against Munde's daughter is a mark of respect shown to him," said party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Mr Munde had been one of the key players who nurtured the saffron alliance of the Shiv Sena and the BJP in Maharashtra, like an anchor who held the partnership together and weathered many storms to keep the two-decade-old alliance going, differences notwithstanding.
Though Shiv Sena will stay away from the Parli constituency where Pankaja is fighting the assembly elections from, the NCP has fielded Mr Munde's estranged nephew Dhananjay.