Leaders pay rich tribute to Gopinath Munde at his prayer meet

Mumbai: Leaders from at least three prominent parties paid tribute to the departed soul of former Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde amidst the presence of the late leader`s daughter Pankaja Munde.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chiefSharad Pawar along with Shiv Sena (SS) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh were seen in the prayer meet. Speaking at the prayer meet, union Home Minister exuded confidence in Pankaja and said, " I am hopeful that Gopinath Munde`s daughter, Pankaja will fill the vacuum that has been left with his demise." He also talked highly about the late Maharashtra stalwart. "Whenever issues raised by village, poor and farmers were raised he used to take a stand for them. Not leaving poor, dalits and backward classes behind will be a real tribute to Late Gopinath Munde," he said. Munde had met with an accident on June 3 after his car collided with an Indica while he was on his way to the Delhi airport.