Though the BJP leadership played down the incident and denied that there was any rift in the party, the fact that this was part of the serious ongoing skirmishes between the supporters of the two leaders was not lost on anybody.
After Joshi had to resign unceremoniously from the BJP National Executive at the Mumbai conclave as Modi had put this as a precondition for his participation in the meet, articles and editorials in BJP and RSS mouthpieces have appeared either castigating or praising them.
The hoardings and posters, put up in Ahmedabad and at the party headquarters here with Joshi's pictures, said, "Chote man se koi bada nahi hota, tute man se koi bada nahi hota (nobody becomes big with a narrow mind)".
It went on to say "Kaho dil se... Sanjay Joshi phir se (Say with your heart, Sanjay Joshi once again)".
Modi was the obvious target here, though his name was not written anywhere on the posters.
Asked about this, BJP Chief Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "These were not authorised banners and posters of the party, so I do not have to say anything about them."
This is not the first case of differences between Joshi and Modi coming out in the open. On June 1, BJP mouthpiece Kamal Sandesh had hit out at Modi without naming him.
A day later, RSS mouthpiece Panchajanya also targeted Modi, saying there were several other leaders within the BJP who have the potential to be Prime Minister. But another RSS mouthpiece Organiser praised Modi.
