Days after being dropped from the BJP Parliamentary Board, former BJP president and current Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday reiterated his stand that he would rather jump into a well than join the Congress.
While the outspoken Nitin Gadkari has not yet reacted to the party’s decision to drop him from its highest decision-making body, he indicated that he would continue in the BJP and had no plans of joining the Congress or any other party.
Speaking at a corporate event in his hometown Nagpur, Gadkari recounted an anecdote: “I had an offer to join the Congress party from my friend and late Congress leader Shrikant Jichkar. I told him I will jump into a well but not join the Congress because I do not like the ideology of the Congress.” The Congress was seen as the natural party of governance at the time. Jichkar, who was a minister in Maharashtra in the 1980s, died, aged only 49, in 2004.
Gadkari did not refer to the changes in the BJP but said, “Everyone should cultivate human relationships while doing business, both on good and bad days. Once you hold someone's hand, do not leave him. Do not worship the rising sun.”
Nefarious Campaign
Gadkari’s statement is important as two days ago he had slammed unnamed detractors for carrying out a “nefarious and fabricated” campaign for political mileage.
“Today, once again, efforts are being made to continue the nefarious and fabricated campaign against me for political mileage by a section of the mainstream media, social media and some persons in particular by concocting my statements at public programmes without context or reference,” the minister tweeted.
Gadkari was recently quoted as saying that he sometimes felt like quitting politics as there is more to life. He also lamented that politics nowadays is more about staying in power than being a vehicle for social change.
On Saturday he said, “I will not even put up my posters in the next general election. No one will be given tea or water. If you want to vote, vote; if not, don't vote.”
He added that despite not putting up posters or distributing tea or water, voters will elect him as they need good people who work.
