Decks cleared for Gadkari to get a second term as party chief; Modi attends meet after Joshi resigns
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has cleared the decks for party president Nitin Gadkari to have another three-year term in office. This was made possible after the BJP national executive here on Thursday passed an amendment to article 21 of the party constitution by voice vote.
The amendment was proposed by former president Rajnath Singh and seconded by another former party chief, M Venkaiah Naidu. on Thursday’s amendment would also pave the way for state and district presidents to get a second term in office.
Gadkari’s re-election would mean he remains in charge of the party for the next Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had endorsed Gadkari to continue as president.
The two-day national executive meeting is being held at the imposing Yashwantrao Chavan Pratisthan here. This year is the birth centenary year of Yashwantrao Chavan, who was the first chief minister of Maharashtra after the division of Bombay state in 1960 and the fifth deputy PM of India.
Meanwhile, BJP poster boy Narendra Modi forced the party to step backward and strike a deal. His adamant stand led to the resignation of RSS leader Sanjay Joshi from the national executive. Joshi resigned after the Gujarat strongman, apparently, made it clear that he would not attend the national meet if the former continued to be part of the executive board. Modi, who had skipped the national executive meeting in Delhi last year, has again indicated the party would suffer heavily if he was neglected ahead of the 2014 general elections.
Joshi had erupted into the news after a sleaze CD allegedly showing him with a woman from Vadodara surfaced in 2005. This had surfaced at a time when the party was celebrating its silver jubilee. Joshi had then resigned, but Gadkari re-inducted him this year, ahead of the UP assembly elections. His re-induction ruffled the feathers of his bête noire, Modi.
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Gadkari in his opening address said: “Let us rise above all secondary considerations and unitedly work to strengthen the BJP at a time when destiny itself has presented before us both challenges and opportunities.”
BJP ‘genuine alternative’
Gadkari’s address also outlined a three-point agenda to consolidate the BJP’s position and increase its presence across India ahead of the 2014 elections. He presented three focus areas — expansion of the party-led National Democratic Alliance, increasing the BJP’s vote share by 10 per cent and concentrating on building a base among the poor, the downtrodden, tribals, dalits and minorities.
Gadkari said the people of India were looking for a genuine alternative. He also noted the alternative required some basics, such as a strong, and credible leadership, with team spirit that puts the nation above the party and the party above self; clear vision about the challenges and opportunities before the nation; ability to take right decisions and implement these with the people’s support; transparency and honesty in functioning; and strong commitment to nationalism, good governance, development and uplift of the poor and the marginalised.
Gadkari touched upon the growing presence of regional parties and said they had a national perspective, too. He said another lesson of the NDA’s 1998-2004 rule was that a stable government was possible only if the ruling coalition had a national presence and nationalist party like the BJP as its strong anchor. “Therefore, we should make them (regional parties, electorate) understand that a strong BJP-led coalition, based on a common programme, is the only true alternative that can answer their growing desire for change of government in New Delhi,” he declared.
Expressing concern over the state of the economy, the BJP said the Congress had once again put the nation in peril, and the country had been plunged into a deep economic crisis, like the one seen in 1991.
In its economic resolution, it said the nation’s economic free-fall represents the total paralysis of governance.
BJP made a strong pitch for a “farmer-centric development model” instead of the “Western model”. The party suggested the country needed an economic model based on equitable growth.
The BJP said party-ruled states would take a call on the revision of taxes in the wake of the recent Rs 7-plus rise in the price of petrol. It blamed the Congress-led UPA government for the hefty rise. BJP said considering the financial position of the states, the revision in taxes be left to them.