Nitin Gadkari skips PM Narendra Modi’s function again

NAGPUR: The absence of Union minister for transport Nitin Gadkari from the public engagements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Vidarbha has raised eyebrows once again. Modi on Saturday visited the Jagdamba Mata temple in Poharadevi in Washim district, where he offered prayers. He also honoured the memories of Sant Sevalal Maharaj and Sant Ramrao Maharaj by paying tributes at their samadhis, also in Poharadevi.

While senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, as well as chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, were present at Poharadevi on Saturday, Gadkari was busy inaugurating developments works and attending an award ceremony in Nagpur.

Gadkari has represented the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency since 2014 and is a senior BJP leader from Vidarbha. Also a former national BJP president, he was missing from Modi’s Wardha meeting last month, when he launched a women’s start-up at a grand event in the presence of Shinde and Fadnavis. The senior BJP leader also skipped the meeting of Union home minister Amit Shah in Nagpur on September 24, when the latter was reviewing the BJP’s preparations ahead of the assembly polls.

The senior BJP leader has skipped public events and other engagements of senior party leaders despite the Sangh Parivar’s instructions to the BJP to get Gadkari on board, to help strategise the party’s poll plan, given the party’s dismal showing during the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra earlier this year.

In September, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had directed the BJP high command to involve Gadkari in the selection and campaign process in the state, particularly in the Vidarbha region. The Sangh Parivar had told them to coordinate the process together with Fadnavis, Gadkari and RSS joint general secretary Atul Limaye, who is also the Sangh coordinator for the state elections.

Besides skipping meetings of senior BJP leaders in the recent past, Gadkari is also making headlines for making controversial statements that target party leaders as well as the BJP-led government. While not mentioning names, he took an obvious dig at the Modi-led Union government on Friday, at the inauguration of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji at Sangli in Maharashtra, where Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar was also invited.

At the event, Gadkari had said, “If we adopt even one of his (Chhatrapati Shivaji’s) qualities, it would take our society and country far ahead. Often, there is talk of making India ‘atmanirbhar Bharat’, a five-trillion-dollar economy, the third largest economy, and of Vishwaguru. But if we want to make all this a reality, we will have to begin by making changes within ourselves. It is easy to tell others to change, but an individual will have to begin with oneself before advising others.”

Gadkari has also questioned the Mahayuti government’s Ladki Bahin Yojana in Maharashtra, saying it could delay the timely payment of subsidies in other sectors.

The Union minister made headlines in September, when he claimed he had received offers to become prime minister “multiple times” both before and after the Lok Sabha elections held a few months ago.

Last month, at an event in Pune, Gadkari said the true test of leadership in a democratic system is the ability of those in power to accept criticism and reflect on it. “The problem our country is facing is not a matter of differing opinions, but rather a lack of them,” he said, clearly referencing his critics within his party.