Not displeased, says Pankaja; case filed against supporters

Police on Monday filed a case against Pankaja Munde's supporters for burning an effigy of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Mumbai: A day after Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde's apparent unhappiness over being divested of the important water conservation portfolio spilled onto social media, police on Monday filed a case against her supporters for burning an effigy of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"We have filed a case under sections 37(1) and 37(3) of the Bombay Police Act against eight persons," a police officer from Pathardi in Ahmednagar district, where the effigy was burnt yesterday, told PTI over phone.

"Those against whom the case has been filed include a prominent BJP youth wing activist Mukund Garje," he said.

Garje is a prominent supporter of Munde in Pathardi area.

Meanwhile, after her outbreak on Twitter caused ripples in political circles, Pankaja declared that she was not annoyed over divesting of her portfolios.

"I am very happy that my close associates Ram Shinde and Jaikumar Raval were given my portfolios. If they are given good opportunity, then I should be more proud.

Where is the question of displeasure at all," she asked.

On Sunday, soon after news of her being relieved from the water conservation portfolio became public, a peeved Munde took to Twitter to announce that she was to reach Singapore to attend a global water leader summit on Monday but won't do so as she was no longer the minister of that department.

Fadnavis, who is out of country on an official tour, was quick to respond, on Twitter, saying she must attend the event.

"As a senior minister, you (Munde) would be representing the government of Maharashtra," he had said.

After the reshuffle in the Council of Ministers on Friday, Munde has been left with the portfolios of Woman and Child Welfare and Rural Development.

Earlier, as the Water Conservation Minister, Munde had courted controversy in April by posting a selfie during a visit to drought-affected Latur.