MUMBAI (TIP): The BJP has cleared the decks for deceased leader Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja’s induction in the party’s core committee. This was decided at a meeting of the party’s core committee in Mumbai on June 19. State BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis played a key role in getting Pankaja on board the high profile panel, sources said. “This is the party leadership’s signal that it accepts Pankaja as her father’s political heir,” said a senior BJP functionary.

Munde, inducted as Union agriculture minister in PM Narendra Modi‘s cabinet, died in a car accident in New Delhi on June 3. There are indications that Pankaja may be the BJP’s candidate for the Lok Sabha byelection in Beed following Munde’s death. There is a growing demand from state BJP workers that Pankaja should be inducted in the Union cabinet, said the BJP functionary. On Uddhav Thackeray’s anointment as the saffron combine’s CM nominee, Fadnavis said, “We will talk about it when the Shiv Sena formally communicates its decision to us.”