Gadkari’s remarks on discipline evoke discussion at BJP meet

UTTAN - Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari’s blunt remarks on party discipline at the two-day party conclave here became a topic of discussion Sunday - the concluding day of the event.

The party chief’s observations on ego clashes among different party workers and leaders - whom he did not name - led to intense speculation over who he was referring to or even targeting.

“I once thought very highly of some party leaders, but after becoming BJP president, I realised that some of them were short-sighted,” Gadkari said Saturday at the “National Convention on Good Governance”.

He also urged all party workers and leaders to work with good team spirit under the leadership of the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of states where the party was in power and avoid ego clashes. He also expressed concern over bickering in the party at various levels.

Surprisingly, the chief ministers present on the occasion were hardly seen interacting with each other though the convention was all about sharing their own experiences in good governance, including party manifesto agendas in governance and inspiring other state heads to learn from their examples.

Gadkari also emphasised the spirit of nationalism which defined its political character and shunned sycophancy in any form - be it large garlands, erecting huge hoardings or touching the feet of leaders - as part of Congress “traditions”.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj would deliver the concluding remarks at the end of the meet as senior leader L.K. Advani was indisposed and skipped the convention. BJP’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde was also absent from the crucial meet.

The chief ministers of the BJP-ruled Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka were present at the convention. Chhattisgarh’s Raman Singh was absent owing to his father’s death a day before the meet.

Besides deputy chief ministers of two states and party presidents of eight states, 73 ministers were also present at the meet — which was a closed-door affair — conducted in the sylvan surroundings of Uttan, a village on the Arabian Sea coast, around 40 km north of Mumbai.