A technical snag was detected in a helicopter scheduled to transport Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde for campaigning, delaying her journey. The issue was discovered during a routine inspection, leading to the grounding of the helicopter and a DGCA investigation.
Asked whether she would like to go to the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, Pankaja Munde said it is too late to choose it.
Chandrakant Patil dismissed reports in a section of media which claimed that she may quit the BJP.
"Whoever is eligible according to them will be inducted into the cabinet. I have no stand about it. I try to do my politics by maintaining my pride," she added.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pankaja Munde on Friday said she was planning to take a break for "one or two months" as she was anguished at her integrity being questioned time and again.
Earlier, there were speculations that the party may nominate Pankaja Munde, the daughter of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, for the MLC polls, to be held on June 20.
'The party is the ultimate truth. There is no question of me being upset'
'Looking at the changed political scenario in state, there is a need to think and decide the way ahead,' she wrote.
"I am not leaving the party. Defection is not in my blood," Pankaja told reporters.
Maharashtra Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde finds herself in the middle of a Rs 206 crore scam, in what maybe called the first case of impropriety of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government.
'Did the media see the problems I had to endure while walking barefeet?'
Fissures in Maha BJP were out in the open at a rally organised in memory of the late Gopinath Munde, with Eknath Khadse and Pankaja targeting former CM Devendra Fadnavis.
She hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda as her leaders.
In the purported conversation she allegedly said she can buy anyone she wishes from the money provided for '25-15' -- a scheme meant for funding small works in rural areas.
Munde took the selfies with the dried-up Manjara river as the backdrop, while on a visit to the parched region to review desilting work on the riverbed.
Soon after news of her being relieved from the water conservation portfolio became public, Munde said she was to reach Singapore to attend a global water leader summit on Monday but won't do so as she was no longer the minister of that department.
The BJP MLC said that while seeking votes for him, she felt like she was receiving a "send-off party" and was being freed of a responsibility.
Munde, the Women and Child Development minister, has been accused of irregularities in procurement of items worth Rs 206 crore including chikki.
The wife of a personal assistant to Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde allegedly committed suicide in Mumbai. Police have registered an abetment of suicide case against her husband and his relatives following allegations of domestic dispute and harassment.
Pankaja, daughter of late BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde, said the allegations were part of a plan to defame her.
Under flak, Munde said the video clip, in which he was purportedly heard making the comments against Pankaja, was edited and fake. He claimed that his remarks were "distorted" to project him as a "villain" by his rivals to win elections.
A woman doctor of a government hospital allegedly died by suicide in Maharashtra's Satara district, leaving behind a note accusing two police personnel of rape and mental harassment, police said on Friday.
The BJP has also not declared the candidate for Mumbai North Central, which was won by Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late Pramod Mahajan, in 2014 and 2019 on the party ticket.
Munde's daughter said any programme without the photo of Gopinath Munde will not be welcomed in her constituency of Beed.
Amid opposition call for his resignation over the Beed sarpanch murder case, Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde on Wednesday said he is ready to quit if asked by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
Pankaja Munde, who is the MLA from Parli, led the campaign for Gopinath Munde during the Lok Sabha elections against the single-minded, 'undo the Mundes' campaign by the Pawars and the Nationalist Congress Party. She is not set to take over his mantle, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Pankaja Munde of the BJP -- Dhananjay Munde's cousin -- has been made the guardian minister of Jalna district.
150 BJP elected local representatives in Beed resign in protest against Pritam Munde's exclusion from the Union ministry.
Beleaguered Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the murder of a village sarpanch and three months after the new Mahayuti government assumed office.
Thousands of people gathered in Maharashtra's Beed city on Saturday to protest against the brutal murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh as even MLAs from ruling parties demanded the sacking of Nationalist Congress Party minister Dhananjay Munde.
The Parli assembly seat in Beed district will again see his daughter Pankaja Munde and nephew Dhananjay Munde lock horns for supremacy.
Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, inducted 39 ministers into his cabinet on Sunday. The new cabinet includes members from the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, reflecting the coalition government formed after the recent state elections.
He added that it was 'ironical' for the Congress to talk about corruption when the party itself has been accused of being a part of several scams in the past.
The 10-day-old BJP-led Mahayuti alliance ministry in Maharashtra was expanded on Sunday, with 39 ministers being sworn in, taking its strength to 42. The BJP secured 19 ministerial berths, followed by 11 for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 9 for Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party. Governor P C Radhakrishnan administered the oath to the new ministers at the ceremony held in Nagpur. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar were present.
She came under the cloud of allegation of clearing contract worth Rs 206 crore for purchase of a host of items under the Integrated Child Development Scheme.
In a telephonic interview with rediff.com, Dhananjay Munde squarely blames his uncle for sidelining him in the state BJP for the benefit of Munde's daughter Pankaja Munde-Palwe, who is currently a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Parli, the BJP leader's home town.
Activists Laxman Hake and Navnath Waghmare, who have been sitting on a hunger strike at Wadigodri village in Jalna district since June 13, did not allow doctors to check their health or administer intravenous fluids.
Daughters of the late Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde are in the poll arena contesting from the Parli assembly and Beed Lok Sabha constituencies in a bid to retain their father's political legacy.
Munde alleged "sensationalisation" of news, with her party colleague and state minister Sudhir Mungantiwar saying that her statement was taken out of context.
Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde has objected to the biopic 'Sangharshyatra', based on the life of her father late Munde, claiming that the film's producer did not take permission from their family before making it.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances