Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Saturday inaugurated his party’s “National Convention on Good Governance” at Uttan near Mumbai. However, in his inaugural speech, he expressed concerns about bickering within the party.
Mr Gadkari advised the chief minister and ministers from eight BJP-ruled states who had gathered for the convention, to work with good team spirit. “It pains me the most when I see egos of two people clashing. I try to mediate. We all should work with team spirit, under the leadership of our chief ministers and deputy CMs,” Mr Gadkari told the gathering.
The BJP president further advised his party members to work selflessly for the party. He said, “When I was president of Maharashtra unit, I had promised an election ticket to a woman party worker, which I could not fulfil. But she didn’t get disheartened and continued to work for the party with the same zest as before. On the other hand, I thought very highly of some party leaders. But after becoming the BJP president, I realised that some of them were short-sighted. The small-time woman party worker was much bigger as a person. We should idolise such party workers.”
Mr Gadkari further said that the party’s goal is to make India a superpower. “Nationalism is the BJP’s inspiration and it defines its political character. We have to make India a superpower and we can achieve it only if we continue to work according to our ideology. We have to achieve this through good governance.”
Speaking about good governance, the BJP president said that BJP ministers should indulge in politics of development. He gave the example of his own work in Maharashtra as a Public Works Department minister that included Mumbai-Pune expressway. “You are ministers from different states. You have to make schemes for the development of your respective states. But do not only make the schemes, ensure that they are implemented,” he said.