Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde dies in a road accident in Delhi Tuesday June 03,2014

Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde died in a road accident in Delhi on June 03,2014 Tuesday morning when he was on his way to the airport.

Gopinath Munde's Maruti SX4 car was reportedly hit by a Tata Indica, which jumped a red light, at around 6:20 AM at Prithviraj Road-Tughlak Road roundabout. The driver of the Indica has been arrested.

Gopinath Munde(64) was on his way to the Indira Gandhi International Airport to fly to his constituency, Beed in Maharashtra, to address a celebratory rally, when his Maruti Suzuki SX4 was hit by a Tata Indica at the Prithviraj road-Tughlaq road roundabout in New Delhi

Gopinath Munde was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre after the accident where he was declared dead. AIIMS spokesperson said that there was no breathing, no pulse, no cardiac function when Gopinath Munde was brought in.

Gopinath Munde is survived by his wife and three daughters, and will be cremated on Wednesday at his native village Parli in Maharashtra's Beed district.

Expressing grief over Munde's tragic death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. "Extremely saddened & shocked by the demise of my friend & colleague Gopinath Munde ji. His demise is a major loss for the Nation & the Govt. Gopinath Munde ji was a true mass leader. Hailing from backward sections of society, he rose to great heights & tirelessly served people. My tributes to a dynamic leader whose premature demise leaves a void hard to fill. Condolences to Munde ji's family. We stand by them in this hour of grief."

The damaged car of Gopinath Munde

The Indica car which rammed into GopinathMunde's vehicle travelling at 80-90 km/hour hit the Minister's sedan on the left side in Aurobindo Chowk

Leaders pay homage to Gopinath Munde

 

 

The National Flag will be flown at half mast in Delhi, state capitals and Union Territories on Tuesday as a mark of respect to Munde

About Gopinath Munde
Gopinath Munde was among the three big leaders the Maharashtra BJP has produced to date with late Pramod Mahajan and Nitin Gadkari being the other two. 

Pramod Mahajan was a friend-turned- brother-in-law (Munde married Mahajan's younger sister Pradnya)

Gopinath Munde's first electoral success came in 1974 when he got elected to the Zila Parishad.

Encouraged by the success, the then Jan Sangh fielded him from Renapur. He was only 23 and unmarried. He lost by margin of merely 1,100 votes. 

Two years later in 1980, he won from Renapur Assembly constituency that was considered the traditional bastion of the Congress. He lost the seat in 1985, when the Congress put up a strong candidate in Panditrao Dound.

In 1986,Gopinath Munde became the state BJP chief. In 1990, he contested from Renapur and won. Since then he had successfully retained the Renapur seat till 2009, when he was fielded for Lok Sabha elections.

Gopinath Munde had won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Beed constituency and was the Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Gopinath Munde was the brother-in-law of the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan. He had married Mahajan's younger sister.

After Mahajan's death,Gopinath Munde was the guardian of the Mahajan family.

Gopinath Munde belonged to Vanjara community, now classified as OBC and was a very big OBC leader from Maharashtra.