Gopinath Pandurang Munde

Gopinath Pandurang Munde (12 December 1949 – 3 June 2014) was an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He was a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for five terms during 1980-1985 and 1990-2009. He was also the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly during 1992-1995. He has held the post of Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 1995-1999.Munde was elected to Lok Sabha in 2009 and 2014, and served as the Deputy Leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha. He was appointed as the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in Narendra Modi's cabinet.

Munde got involved into Politics when he met Pramod Mahajan, a friend and colleague in the college. As a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, he took part in the agitation against the state of emergency imposed by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was incarcerated in the Nashik central jail until the Emergency was lifted.

In 1971, he associated with the campaign of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh candidate in the Lok Sabha election in the Beed constituency. He attended the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Shiksha Varga (Training Camp) held in Pune that year. He soon became the Sambhajinagar Mandal Karyavah, looking after half a dozen shakhas of the RSS, and subsequently, the in-charge of its Pune City Students' Cell. Later, he was made a member of the executive committee of the city RSS. The Janata Party by this time had split, and the Bharatiya Janata Party, founded by the leaders the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh had come into existence. Munde was made President of the Maharashtra unit of the BJP's youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

Munde was involved in a road accident at 6:30 AM on June 3, 2014, while on his way to the Delhi airport. The accident took place at Aurobindo Marg in South Delhi. He was brought to AIIMS by his personal assistant and driver, 10 minutes after the accident. After receiving CPR, he was declared dead at 7:20 AM.The driver of the car has been taken into custody as per reports.