Gopinath Munde stays with BJP

New Delhi, June 22 (ANI): After much speculation of Gopinath Munde's differences with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he made it clear on Wednesday that he is not leaving the party.

After meeting with senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, Munde announced that he will continue with the BJP.

"I am with BJP. I shall remain with it. The news that I am about to leave is wrong", he said.

Munde, however said, he has many grievances and he will continue to hold talks with top BJP leaders.

"I will not talk about them publicly. It is the job of the leaders to address them. I shall put them before the leaders," he added.

He also denied talking to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan or Ahmed Patel.

While rumours about Munde's exit from the party and entry into Congress were in the air, the BJP issued an ultimatum earlier asking the sulking leader to clarify his stand.

Munde has found himself in the midst of a controversy as senior leaders in the party refused to fulfil his demands.

Munde, BJP National Vice President and the party's deputy leader in Lok Sabha, has given the impression that he has been sidelined by the Party President Nitin Gadkari particularly over the appointment of Vikas Mathkari as the party president of Mumbai, instead of the candidate he had proposed, former BJP (Mumbai) General Secretary Yogesh Gogawale.

Over the past few weeks, Munde, a prominent OBC leader, had not been attending party events in Maharashtra and also made frequent visits to the Shiv Sena's top leadership, sparking off rumours that he is unhappy with the outfit and might break away soon. (ANI)