Maharashtra’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pankaja Munde has said  she was not upset over not being nominated by the party for the upcoming Legislative Council election and that she ‘had nothing to say’ on the issue on Saturday.

Today, the former BJP minister took to Twitter and asked her supporters not to get demoralised. “We both are there for each other and have the blessings of saheb (father Gopinath Munde),” said Munde.

Earlier, Pankaja lost the Parli seat in assembly polls conducted last year, to her cousin and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde.  BJP has not given a ticket to her for the May 21 biennial elections.

“You called up my mother and sister (Beed MP Pritam Munde) to express your dismay. I did not take calls because I had nothing to say. I am not upset. My best wishes to the four party candidates,” she said in her tweet (in Marathi).

Another senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who was keen on representing the party in the Council, is also upset over not being considered, said PTI sources.

The BJP has fielded lesser known faces like Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ajit Gopchhade and former NCP MP Ranjitsinh Mohite, for Council polls. These candidates filed their nominations on Friday.

Earlier, in December last year, Munde had sparked speculations in the political arena that she might be leaving BJP with her Facebook post on her future journey and she removed BJP from her Twitter bio as well.

Later she cleared that air that she was being misinterpreted and rumours were being spread that she was planning to quit the BJP.

The Council election is being held for nine seats, for which the electoral college is the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

The election assumes importance as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will be among the candidates from the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

The Election Commission of India had on May 1  granted permission for holding elections to the Legislative Council (MLCs) in Maharashtra on May 21

The necessary guidelines will need to be ensured for safety against COVID-19 during the elections, the poll body had said.

These seats have been lying vacant since April 24 and filling up the same would end the current political uncertainty in the state

Since Uddhav Thackeray — who was sworn in as Chief Minister on November 28, 2019 — is not a member of either house of the state Legislature, he needs to get elected to the Council before May 27, failing which there could have been a constitutional deadlock.