Don't put up posters in my support, Sanjay Joshi urges followers

In a move seen as an attempt to buy peace with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, BJP's former general secretary Sanjay Joshi on Thursday wrote a letter to his supporters not to put up his posters or malign the party.

"Some people are trying to spread confusion about Modi government which is running successfully," Joshi, who held the key post of general secretary, organisation, said in an unusual move.

He also denied any direct or indirect involvement in the recent episode when posters in his purported support have been surfacing in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh since his birthday celebrations.

"I am an active BJP worker and Narendra Modi is my leader," he reiterated.

"Such acts create confusion among the party cadres and bring a bad name to party," Joshi said in his first statements after the poster controversy erupted.

Similar posters surfaced on Joshi's birthday on April 6 and led to sacking of union minister Shripad Naik's private secretary, Nitin Sardare.

Joshi, considered an arch enemy of Modi, however, lauded the NDA government for its achievements on international front. "India's stature has increased internationally in the past one year," he said in his letter.

Joshi was sacked from the BJP in 2005 after a sex scandal surfaced at the party's national executive meet in Mumbai. Later, a Madhya Pradesh Police probe cleared him.

In 2012, Nitin Gadkari as the BJP chief assigned poll work in Uttar Pradesh to Joshi, which angered Modi. Modi, who was Gujarat's chief minister at the time, refused to participate in any BJP conclaves unless Joshi was kept away.