The top leadership in the BJP is systematically, ridiculing and humiliating Union minister for transport, shipping and Ganga rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari, alleged former BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh, who is aspiring to contest from the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket.
Deshmukh, who quit the party and his Katol seat sometime back, was addressing a press conference, in the city on Monday.
Gadkari, a former BJP national president, who had drafted vision document for the party, is being meted out with humiliation, Deshmukh said, adding the Nagpur Lok Sabha representative was included in some insignificant committee of NGOs and social organizations by the BJP for the upcoming general elections.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, who is comparatively new to the party, has been included in the powerful Manifesto Committee, headed by Union home minister Raj Nath Singh, while finance minister Arun Jaitley heads the Publicity Committee. But there is no place for Gadkari in these two committees and nor is he heading any committee.
Gadkari was not present when Modi inaugurated the longest rail cum road bridge in Arunachal Pradesh while his ministry was solely responsible for constructing the landmark across the mighty Bramhaputra river, he said.
Turning his gun on Gadkari, Deshmukh said his recent statements praising former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi was also creating confusions. Who is behind Gadkari’s remarks about Congress leaders, Deshmukh questioned suspecting that the RSS might be behind this move.
What is cooking in BJP-RSS should come out. Gadkari needs to clarify what prompted him to praise Nehru and Indira Gandhi at a time when the entire BJP leadership, particularly Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah were spitting venom on these two leaders. Moreover, after the defeat of BJP in recent assembly elections in December 2018, Gadkari sought to know why nobody was talking and taking responsibility of defeats in the three states. There are a number of persons to take credit for success and victories but none for the defeats, he posed the BJP, thereby embarrassing the leadership. BJP did not respond to his criticism.
To a question, Deshmukh said if Gadkari likes the role of Jawaharlal Nehru and India Gandhi in nation building, will he come out and support Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Rafle?
