BJP sends Gadkari to Itanagar
16 Nov 2012 6:35 AM IST
In a decision that has taken many by surprise, the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nitin Gadkari will lead an all-India protest against the UPA government on 21 November from Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh. While other top leaders of the party like Arun Jaitley will be in Mumbai and Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi in Delhi, Gadkari campaigning in Itanagar has led to speculation if this is the fallout of corruption charges that have been levelled against the leader.
‘During the 20 September all-India bandh against FDI, Gadkari had led strikers in Delhi. During the 22 June nation-wide agitation, he was in Nagpur. So his presence in far-flung Itanagar on 21 November will raise eye-brows,’ said a party leader. The party plans to raise issues like corruption, price rise and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail in the nation-wide protest.
The party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, denied any move to sideline the party’s national president. ‘Gadkari had earlier expressed his wish to hold a rally in Itanagar. So he would like to lead this protest there. The BJP has always felt a sense of responsibility towards the North East. Rajnath Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu have held rallies there in the past,’ said Naqvi, while justifying the move. The party, however, failed to clarify why senior leader L K Advani is not taking part in these protests.
This is not the first time questions have been raised whether Gadkari is being sidelined because of the corruption taint. In the recently-concluded Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Gadkari had campaigned in the remote, tribal dominated areas of Reckong Peo and Nerwa. The BJP president, however, got a reprieve as his name figured in the list of leaders who will be campaigning in the Gujarat elections, though it is not clear if the Himachal Pradesh episode will be repeated again.
The other senior leaders to campaign in Gujarat include LK Advani and the party’s Muslim faces Shahnawaz Hussain and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The leaders will visit the state on 1 and 2 December.
‘During the 20 September all-India bandh against FDI, Gadkari had led strikers in Delhi. During the 22 June nation-wide agitation, he was in Nagpur. So his presence in far-flung Itanagar on 21 November will raise eye-brows,’ said a party leader. The party plans to raise issues like corruption, price rise and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail in the nation-wide protest.
The party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, denied any move to sideline the party’s national president. ‘Gadkari had earlier expressed his wish to hold a rally in Itanagar. So he would like to lead this protest there. The BJP has always felt a sense of responsibility towards the North East. Rajnath Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu have held rallies there in the past,’ said Naqvi, while justifying the move. The party, however, failed to clarify why senior leader L K Advani is not taking part in these protests.
This is not the first time questions have been raised whether Gadkari is being sidelined because of the corruption taint. In the recently-concluded Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Gadkari had campaigned in the remote, tribal dominated areas of Reckong Peo and Nerwa. The BJP president, however, got a reprieve as his name figured in the list of leaders who will be campaigning in the Gujarat elections, though it is not clear if the Himachal Pradesh episode will be repeated again.
The other senior leaders to campaign in Gujarat include LK Advani and the party’s Muslim faces Shahnawaz Hussain and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The leaders will visit the state on 1 and 2 December.
Next Story
