Munde made BJP leadership in Delhi buckle: Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday hailed Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde for raising the banner of revolt and making his party restore democracy in its functioning.

"An important thing that had happened because of Munde is that democracy in the party, which had been lost ,was restored," Thackeray said, adding that the BJP leadership buckled when Munde flexed his muscles because the party did not want to lose Maharashtra due to internal squabbles.

After the episode, Munde has emerged as a very strong leader in the state and there were none to match him, Thackeray said in an editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna.

There were attempts to finish off Munde politically but he rebelled and succeeded to make the party heed to his demand, he said.

Headlined Dilli bhi Jhukti hai, the editorial said people like Uma Bharati and Madanlal Khurana did rebel but they were shown the door.

"Uma Bharati, who rebelled, was shown the door while the rebellion of Khurana was crushed. Similarly the rebellion of Shankarsinh Waghela did not last long while rebel leader Keshubhai Patel failed to make any impact in the party."

In the backdrop of these, Munde's rebellion had become the focal point of discussion as people were wondering whether Munde's rebellion will be crushed like others or whether he will break the obstinacy of the BJP leadership in Delhi.

Thackeray also mentioned that Munde had called on him at his residence on the day of the incident but did not give any details of the meeting.