Gopinath Munde bid farewell by thousands of mourners

With his brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan, another towering BJP leader from Maharashtra whose promising political career was snuffed out in May 2003 after he was shot by his younger brother, Munde was an architect of the BJP-Sena alliance which has stood the test of time.

He was considered the glue that still binds the two saffron allies.

As Narendra Modi launched a spirited Lok Sabha campaign and was looking for new allies, Munde's political astuteness and acceptability across the political spectrum came in handy as he brought Ramdas Athavale's RPI, Raju Shetty's Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and Mahadeo Jankar's Rashtriya Samaj Party into the ‘Mahayuti' (Grand Alliance), which contested Lok Sabha polls together, winning 42 of state's 48 seats.  

His departure from Maharashtra's political scene has left BJP bereft of a charismatic leader months before the crucial electoral battle for control of the key western state.