BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde’s fate will be decided in the party’s meeting in Delhi on Saturday.
However, despite Mr Munde’s running from pillar to post and giving all the indications that he might join the Congress, his close associates say that the leader will remain in the BJP, as Shiv Sena executive chief Uddhav Thackeray has offered to make him the chief minister of Maharashtra, if they come to power.
In the last few days, Mr Munde has been on the spree of meeting leaders across political parties from Congress leaders and union ministers Pranab Mukharji and Vilasrao Deshmukh to Mr Thackeray and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal. Moreover, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale and NCP Maharashtra Pradesh president Madhukar Pichad also met Mr Munde.
The issue however was almost settled during the second meeting between Mr Munde and Mr Thackeray on Wednesday evening. A sitting MLA and a close associate of Mr Munde said, “Mr Munde is not going anywhere for the time being. He has been offered the post of the CM by Mr Thackeray in 2014, if he remained with the Sena-BJP-RPI alliance.”