Senior BJP leader and its shining light in Maharashtra Gopinath Munde's sudden demise barely days after he was sworn in as the Union Rural Development Minister is a jolt to party's dishevelled affairs in the state politics.

Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde passes away. Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde passes away.

A day before his death, BJP's alliance partner Shiv Sena had announced its leader Uddhav Thackeray as the party's CM candidate for the upcoming Assembly polls (due in the year-end), causing ripples in the BJP.

On Monday, Sena announced that its president Uddhav Thackeray will be its nominee for Maharashtra chief minister's post. The party had also attacked Gopinath Munde over his chief ministerial ambitions.

"We have always had this understanding with BJP, that the prime minister will be from the BJP and the chief minister in the state will be from Shiv Sena and all our cadre, everyone wants Uddhavji to be chief minister if our grand alliance comes to power," Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut had said.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' had also taken a dig at Munde recently, saying the BJP leader, like the NCP leader Sharad Pawar, had shifted to Delhi but his heart was still into Maharashtra politics.

"State BJP President Devendra Fadnavis has said BJP has sent Munde on a three-month loan to Delhi after which he will lead Maharashtra. Munde on the other hand has said he feels the slogan coined by some in state BJP that 'Narendra at the Centre, Devendra (Fadnavis) in the state' is good. There is a lot of talk about CM candidature in BJP circles. The question is if Narendra Modi will accept this formula of loaning Munde to the Centre and then sending him back to the state," the editorial said.

The race for Maharashtra CM gathered steam after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray had announced his CM candidature a few days ago.

The BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which won 42 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, was supposed to come out with its CM candidate soon. It was expected that the CM candidate would be from the BJP which won 23 out of 42 seats. However, before the talks could begin, Sena shocked the state BJP leadership by announcing Thackeray's candidature for the post.

Reacting on the development, BJP general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Rajiv Pratap Rudy had told The Times of India: "The matter of leadership, of whether we will have a CM candidate and who it will be, has not been discussed in the BJP or with the Shiv Sena."

Traditionally, the Sena got larger share of state's 288 Assembly seats while the BJP fielded its candidates on just over 100 seats. However, in the light of BJP's spectacular performance in the state in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls and the strong public sentiment in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP is bent on redrawing the seat-sharing agreement between the two.

Munde, who was expected to lead the party in the upcoming Assembly polls, was supposed to hold parleys with various state leaders and smooth the ruffled feathers. After the death of Bal Thackeray, Munde was the axis of state's political affairs and had cordial ties even with his opponents. He shared very warm ties with Uddhav Thackeray and played the pivotal role in forming the BJP's grand alliance for the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

His sudden death might have put the brakes on the current turmoil in the state's politics, the void he leaves behind is impossible to fill. The BJP in Maharashtra will never be the same without him and its equations with the Sena will need to be redefined. For Sena, the news of Munde's death brings an even worse news. With an unmistakable sympathy wave in favour of the BJP, since Munde was a very popular leader in the state, and a strong public sentiment in favour of PM Modi, the battle ahead is going to be tough for Sena. In the changed political scenario, Uddhav's claim to CM's chair is going to hurt the party bad.

