Modi rivals invite Joshi to Gujarat
Trouble for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi continues to brew as his detractors, led by former CM Keshubhai Patel, have invited his bête noire Sanjay Joshi to the Modi-ruled state.
The anti-Modi camp has invited Mr Joshi, former BJP general secretary, to Mr Patel’s birthday next month. Also, the BJP was in for some embarrassment on Tuesday as posters praising Mr Joshi and criticising his opponents (read Mr Modi) appeared at the party headquarters as well as in Ahmedabad.
The BJP, however, disowned the posters, claiming it was an “act of miscreants”. Sources disclosed the BJP central leadership is not happy with this incident, especially when Assembly polls are scheduled by the yearend. Lately, Modi detractors in the state have been openly criticising him for his “autocratic” style of functioning.
Mr Modi attended the recent BJP national executive meeting only after Mr Joshi quit from the same committee. The Gujarat CM had threatened to quit from the national executive if Mr Joshi remained its member.
However, Mr Modi was criticised by the RSS as well as his detractors for forcing Mr Joshi to quit. Both RSS and BJP mouthpieces have attacked Mr Modi, one of the prime ministerial candidates of the party, in their latest issues for being “a man in a hurry”. There are is speculation that Mr Modi will be brought to the national political scene after the Assembly polls in the state.
Meanwhile, the posters that appeared on Tuesday in Mr Joshi’s support attacked his detractors for having “narrow minds”, in an apparent swipe at Mr Modi.
They carried former Prime Minister and BJP patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee’s poem, “Chote mann se koi bada nahien hota (nobody becomes big with a narrow mind)”. The posters further read: “Kaho dil se... Sanjay Joshi phir se (say with your heart, Sanjay Joshi once again),” targeting Mr Modi though his name was not written anywhere on the posters. These posters had Mr Joshi’s photograph.
However, the BJP tried to play down the incident and denied any rift in the party.
“These were not authorised banners and posters of the party, so I do not have to say anything about them,” said BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
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