Bangalore : The legislature party of the Bharatiya Janata Party paid tributes to Union Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Gopinath Munde, who died in a road accident in Delhi on Tuesday morning.

In his condolence message, BJP State president Pralhad Joshi described Mr. Munde’s sudden demise as “shocking and saddening”. Describing him as a leader who had strengthened the BJP’s position in Maharashtra, Mr. Joshi said his untimely death was an unbearable loss to the party.

The legislature party meeting convened to discuss various issues, including that of finalising the nature of a Statewide campaign against the alleged failures of the Congress government, was put aside in the wake of Mr. Munde’s death. The legislature party meeting and a meeting of the party’s prominent leaders convened to analyse the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections, have been postponed to June 23.

The former Deputy Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who was scheduled to file his nomination papers on Tuesday as the BJP candidate for the Council elections from the Assembly constituency, put off his plans as a mark of respect to the departed leader. Railway Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar also condoled the death of their Cabinet colleague.

In his condolence message on Tuesday, Mr. Gowda said Mr. Munde had worked for the welfare of the common man in his long and illustrious public life.

“The country has lost a promising mass leader in Mr. Munde’s premature demise,” he said.

Mr. Ananth Kumar said that he was saddened by Mr. Munde’s death. “It is a severe loss for us in the BJP, the government and for the country. It will be hard to overcome,” he said.