Gadkari visits Medha Kulkarni’s Pune residence, a day after her public outcry

BJP's Medha Kulkarni attended the inauguration of a new flyover in Pune, a day after criticizing the party. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari visited her afterward.

A day after she publicly criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) city unit, the national vice president of BJP’s women’s wing Medha Kulkarni attended the inauguration of a new flyover in the city on Saturday. It is learned that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari visited her residence after the ceremony on Saturday.

Medha Kulkarni (far left) attended the inauguration of a new flyover in the city on Saturday (PTI)

On Friday, Kulkarni took to social media to express her disappointment over being sidelined after she found her name missing from the invitation brochure for the inauguration of the new flyover at Chandani Chowk. In her post, Kulkarni indirectly blamed Pune guardian minister Chandrakant Patil and former Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol for downsizing her role in city politics.

Kulkarni represented the Kothrud assembly constituency as a BJP MLA from 2014 to 2019 but was denied a ticket in the 2019 elections to make way for the then Maharashtra BJP chief Patil, who won the seat. The decision received strong backlash in the constituency, even from hardcore party supporters.

While being an MLA, Kulkarni had often raised the traffic issue at Chandani Chowk.

Gadkari’s visit to Kulkarni’s residence is seen as an effort to downplay the potential conflict in the city BJP unit. Notably, even Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reserved a special mention for Kulkarni in his address during the inauguration programme.

-With agency inputs