In a huge shock for the Bharatiya Janata Party, its Beed strongwoman and minister Pankaja Munde -- for whom both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had campaigned -- lost by around 26,000 votes in Parli to her estranged cousin and Nationalist Congress Party's Leader of Opposition in the Lagislative Council, Dhananjay Munde, on Thursday (24 September).
Pankaja is the daughter of the late Union Minister Gopinath Munde and sister of sitting Beed MP Pritam Munde and had contested from the family stronghold of Beed in Marathwada.
Conceding her stunning defeat even before the official declaration of the result, a weeping Munde declared before media-persons that she "respected the people's verdict" and assured to continue working for them with renewed vigour.
She also appealed to her party activists and supporters to maintain calm and promised to do a soul-searching on her debacle.
(With inputs from IANS)
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