Mumbai, Mar 24 (IANS): BJP candidate from Maharashtra's Beed and former state minister Pankaja Munde has stepped up her outreach to voters in Parli assuring that she will spend every moment of her life for their development.
After entering Parli, where she lost the assembly election in 2019 to her cousin Dhananjay Munde, Pankaja Munde was given a warm welcome.
She appeared in the traditional Banjara community dress and urged the Parlikars to vote for her in the Lok Sabha elections.
"I am a brave warrior. I will sit in parliament and fight the war for you. If I will have to shoot for the moon, sun and stars for my underprivileged Banjara brothers and sisters, I will do that too,’" she said in her emotionally charged speech amid slogan shouting and applause from the people gathered there.
"I will never lie. I will spend every moment of my life for your development. I saw the plight of many people. When I became the minister from 2014 to 2019, I did everything to speed up development. The development will tear down the wall of caste divisions," said Pankaja.
However, Pankaja is now confident about victory as her cousin Dhananjay Munde is the minister in the MahaYuti government and his party, Ajit Pawar-led NCP, is its constituent.
On this occasion, Pankaja also brought to light the memories of her father and former union minister Gopinath Munde.
"Gopinath Munde was loved by all the communities. There is no community which does not reminisce about Gopinath Munde," she said.
While recalling her father's relationship with former chief minister Sudhakarrao Naik, who hails from the Banjara community, Pankaja said the latter blessed her father who never looked back then.
"Just now former Chief Minister Sudhakarrao Naik was remembered. Gopinath Munde, who was then the leader of the opposition, went to Sudhakarrao Naik to seek blessings. Then he took me too. I still remember that in the morning, they fed me breakfast at the Varsha bungalow (CM's official residence). Sudharkarrao Naik told my father that he has given Sagar bungalow at Malabar Hills. The Leader of Opposition never got Sagar Bungalow but it was possible due to the former CM," she added.
Pankaja went on to state that Sudhakarrao Naik defended allotment of Sagar bungalow to her father, saying that it was because he works for common people, the underprivileged.
Hailing the Banjara community for preservation of its culture, dress and language, Pankaja said that the community has given a lot of love to her.
"Munde Saheb loved Pohradevi (located at Manora tehsil of Washim district, is considered to be the most sacred shrine of the Banjara community) so much that he used to go there every year on Ram Navami. I also used to visit Pohradevi many years before the corona crisis. After my brother Sanjay Rathod (who is elected from Digras assembly seat in Yavatmal district) became minister, we prepared a Rs 450 crore proposal from the Rural Development Department for the development of Pohradevi," said Pankaja.
She urged the community members to vote for her so that she can win the elections with a big margin.