Gadkari rises as new trouble-shooter for BJP

The former BJP president and Nagpur heavyweight meets Mohan Bhagwat; Advani to follow suit tomorrow

With the senior leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) waiting in a queue to meet chief of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mohan Bhagwat, former party chief Nitin Gadkari met the sarsanghchalak and senior most leader L K Advani expected to meet him on Thursday.

While a section within the BJP is of the opinion that influence of Suresh Soni, joint general secretary (political affairs), on BJP must be curtailed, Gadkari has proved himself as the new trouble-shooter for the party as many in party believe that he is a “neutral person” who is not attached to different factions led by Advani and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

After remaining dormant for nearly 5 months since December last year when it was suddenly decided not to give him a second consecutive term and instead BJP leaders chose Rajnath Singh, Gadkari is steadily proving himself to solve all the major tussles in the BJP as well as in National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The new role for Gadkari came to light after the recent national executive in Goa where Narendra Modi was chosen as the chairman of election campaign committee which led to Advani resigning from all the positions of the party.

“After LK Advani resigned, all senior leaders including Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, met him at his residence after returning from Goa but they were unable to convince LK Advani to withdraw his resignation. Nitin Gadkari managed to broker truce and also made Advani speak to Mohan Bhagwat. Gadkari first spoke to Mohan Bhagwat and then he gave the phone to Advani so that the RSS chief and Advani could carry forward the discussion,” said a senior BJP leader.

In a similar effort to reach out to NDA allies who were upset by Modi’s rise in the party, Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav also decided to speak to Gadkari so that the 17-year-old alliance between the parties could be stopped from breaking. The former BJP President was sent to convince Yadav not to break the alliance with BJP.

“LK Advani had himself proposed Nitin Gadkari’s name for chairman of the election management committee for the five assembly elections. Since Gadkari didn’t want to get into any controversies, he decided not accept the post. Just because some allegations were made against him during his tenure as the BJP President that doesn’t mean he cannot work for the party,” the BJP leader said.

Although RSS leaders were of the view that Gadkari should get a second term as BJP President, the move was blocked by Advani who had vehemently opposed it because of the allegation of financial irregularities against Gadkari.

“Since Nitin Gadkari doesn’t belong to Delhi, BJP leaders believe that he is a neutral person who has support of RSS. The former BJP President is also playing a major role to bring together Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray so NDA will become stronger in Maharashtra,” added the BJP leader.