Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ aunt Shobha Fadnavis publicly expressed her displeasure about senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar choosing to remain absent from a political event organised by local BJP MLA Kishor Jorgewar in Chandrapur, to commemorate the BJP’s foundation day on Sunday.

The official BJP foundation day event was organised by Jorgewar at Kanyaka Hall, while Mungantiwar chose to skip it and host a separate event at the Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Library instead.

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“People are flocking to join the BJP, but if there is a fight between us here, won’t people say that we are becoming another Congress? We don’t want that to happen,” said Shobha Madhavrao Fadnavis, who is Maharashtra Chief Minister’s aunt, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council and also a former minister in the Maharashtra government.

“We should not let our party become like the Congress. We have to maintain the identity of the BJP,” she said, expressing her displeasure with BJP leader and former minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, without taking his name directly.

She said that there is infighting in Chandrapur within the BJP when it is in power at the centre and Maharashtra. “Why have two separate functions been organised in the city? What message does it give to the people? If he (Jorgewar) is an MLA from Chandrapur, it is his duty to hold an event, and others (Mungantiwar) should have attended the event here with open minds,” Shobha Fadnavis said, appealing for humility and discipline within the ranks of the BJP.

“When there are more serious issues like tension on borders with Bangladesh, Pakistan and China, why should they indulge in such infighting,” Shobha Fadnavis said.

Tensions between Mungantiwar and Jorgewar go back to the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections when Mungantiwar opposed Jorgewar’s induction into the BJP, according to BJP sources.

However, despite Mungantiwar’s resistance, Jorgewar was inducted and he won the Chandrapur assembly constituency during the Maharashtra assembly polls.

Mungantiwar, who represents the Ballarpur constituency in Chandrapur district has been sulking after he was left out of the state cabinet formed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.