BJP's top leadership under pressure after RSS top brass backs Gadkari

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership is seemingly under pressure after the entire top brass of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh leadership attended an event organized by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. The strong message by the RSS is being seen as a warning to keep away from the leader considered close to the ideological parent of the BJP.

The top brass of the Sangh has effectively shown the BJP leaders that they still stand strongly behind Gadkari. sources stated. Present at the inauguration of India's largest musical fountain in Nagpur were RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryawah Dattatreya Hosabale, Sah Sarkaryawah Krishna Gopal and Sah Sarkaryawah Arun Kumar. Also present were several other senior functionaries and pracharaks of the Sangh.

Through this special appearance, the ideological parent of the BJP is also trying to put to rest speculation that there are differences between the RSS and the local Nagpur MP. The murmurs in the saffron unit were fuelled after Gadkari was excluded from the crucial parliamentary board of the party announced earlier this year. The parliamentary board of the BJP decides on the strategy and crucial issues faced by the saffron unit.

The denial of a seat on the BJP’s parliamentary board had adversely affected its stature of Gadkari. The former BJP chief was believed to have been benched after his repeated out-of-turn remarks that were considered to be against the top leadership of the party, sources said.

The move had been made after repeated warnings were not heeded by the senior minister. Due to the embarrassment caused to the party, the minister was removed from the crucial panel in August this year.

The removal of Gadkari from the crucial party panel was also seen as an attempt by an insecure leadership which wanted to thwart his future growth in the BJP. “It is no secret that each time there were general elections, there were murmurs of Gadkari’s possible candidature for the post of the Prime Minister in case the BJP falls short of the magical 272 mark in the Lok Sabha. The issue had become annoying for the top leaders of the party, hence the action of cutting him down to size,” sources said.

Powerful messaging by the RSS

With the entire top brass of the Sangh present at the event, the messaging is not escaping anyone’s attention. The presence of the RSS chief and his top lieutenants at the inauguration aims to send across the message that Gadkari has the full support of the Sangh.

There has been no other time in recent years that the entire leadership of the Sangh has been present at one event that has not been organized by the RSS, sources stated.

The Sangh has basically endorsed the continued leadership of Gadkari and has seemingly sent across a strong message to the BJP leadership to lay off its man, sources added.

In the past, the RSS had maintained an arm’s length over intervening in the internal affairs of the BJP. This was evident from the fact that it had never sought to stop moves by the BJP leadership to remove top leaders from strategic government or organisational posts. However, this move by the RSS to back Gadkari is in effect a shift in stance by the Sangh. Through this move, an effective message has been sent to the top leadership of the BJP.

Gadkari, a Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur, is known to be close to the Sangh and is believed to be in direct contact with the top brass of the BJP’s ideological parent. This is the reason, many believe that it had been tough for the BJP’s leadership to act against him over the past several years, despite Gadkari often criticizing his own party’s central government over several issues, sources said.