Will BJP sort out issues with Munde on Sunday?

Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, sulking over some decisions taken in his own state Maharashtra, on Saturday held discussions with senior party colleagues M Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar but party President Nitin Gadkari stayed away from the exercise.

Gadkari, who also hails from Maharashtra and with whom Munde is said to have strong differences, may meet the disgruntled leader in New Delhi in a bid to sort out the issues raised by the latter.

Gadkari was scheduled to attend the meeting of the central leadership with Munde in New Delhi on Saturday. While senior leaders L K Advani, Naidu and Kumar were in the national capital, Gadkari was away in Dehradun holding a meeting with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and state ministers.

After a two-and-half-hour meeting with Naidu and Kumar, Munde indicated the differences had not been sorted out yet. "The meetings with senior party leaders will continue on Sunday," he said.

Naidu, however, appeared hopeful that the differences will be sorted out.

"We have held positive and healthy talks with our senior BJP leader from Maharashtra Gopinath Munde. We are hopeful of an amicable solution after meetings with senior BJP leaders Gadkari and Advani," Naidu said.

Leader of the Opposition in Mahaharashtra Eknath Khadse and his counterpart in Legislative Council Pandurang Phundkar were also present in the meeting.

"Although Munde has no personal problems, the grievances aired by him are those of party workers in the state," Naidu said, adding "Gopinath ji is our senior party leader and we do not wish that he nurtures any pain. We will sort out everything by Sunday".