BJP leadership tells Tiwari, Goel to bury hatchet

The BJP national leadership today intervened and instructed its Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari and Union minister Vijay Goel to sink their "differences" in view of the damage it was causing to the party's image.

The reported "tussle" involving Tiwari and Goel also dominated the Delhi BJP's executive meeting on its first day.

A top source said that Goel today met BJP's national general secretary (organisation) after which he had a meeting with Tiwari where the two leaders resolved their "differences".

"BJP is not a one-man army. Its a cadre-based party where individualism is not tolerated and discipline is supreme," said BJP national vice president and Delhi in-charge Shyam Jaju who attended the executive meeting.
 

Both Tiwari and Goel were also present at the meeting where they said that they had resolved their differences, party sources said.

The tussle between the two leaders gathered momentum in the backdrop of BJP's stunning victory in last month's MCD polls igniting the party's hope of recapturing power with a similar victory in the next Assembly election in Delhi due in 2020.

The latest round of "conflict" between the two involved a felicitation function recently hosted by Goel where around 50 newly-elected councillors took part despite "express orders" from Tiwari himself, sources said.

Following this, the Delhi unit put on hold consideration of three councillors for the posts of Leaders of House in three municipal corporations, as they were present in Goel's function on May 16.

Goel who holds the portfolio of Youth Affairs and Sports has launched 'Adopt a Slum' campaign wherein each BJP councillor will adopt a slum in his or her ward and develop it with civic amenities.

Tiwari, MP from North East Delhi, is running a similar programme in his constituency and has announced to adopt and develop a slum every six months on the pattern of the Centre's Adarsh Gram Yojna.

Owing to Tiwari's Purvanchal background, the Delhi BJP was instrumental in garnering votes of people from eastern UP and Bihar settled in Delhi who have emerged as the decisive vote bank in the city.