Cong leaders' 'mischievous' post on Gadkari aimed at creating discontent in BJP, says Bawankule

Nagpur: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekar Bawankule on Saturday hit out Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader Jairam Ramesh for their "mischievous" post on Union minister Nitin Gadkari, saying their move was aimed at creating discontent in the ruling party.

Calling Gadkari an asset for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said the Union minister has been working with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development of the country.

He made the statement a day after Gadkari sent legal notices to Kharge and Ramesh for allegedly sharing misleading and defamatory news content about him on X.

Gadkari's lawyer said Kharge and Ramesh deliberately posted a 19-second video clip of the minister's interview given to "The Lallantop" web portal, concealing the contextual intent and meaning of his words. The notice said Gadkari's interview was twisted, distorted and presented by uploading a video that is bereft and devoid of contextual meaning.

Addressing a press conference in Nagpur, Bawankule said, "BJP condemns the post shared by Congress (leaders) about Union minister Nitin Gadkari. Some people think that posting such videos will create discontent in our party. Some people have done this mischief and we have given legal notice to them...People will not spare such individuals." "It (the post) is an absolute lie, Nitin ji is an asset for Dev, Dharm, Zanskar and our party. He has an important place in terms of development in the government," he added.

"BJP condemns the cheating done to Nitin ji. He has worked shoulder to shoulder with PM Modi ji for the development of the poor and the country," Bawankule said.

Replying to a query on Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar's statement that winning the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat was very easy for his outfit if it fights it properly, the state BJP chief said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will win this constituency (currently represented by Gadkari) with a huge margin.

He also said that there was no possibility of the BJP joining hands with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in future.